As subscribers to our premium services can attest, I’m always on the hunt for the next innovative and game-changing technology. And I’ve gone to great lengths in the last year to explain why mobile devices qualify.

After all, the mobile industry is only the fourth industry in the history of mankind to generate more than $1 trillion in annual revenue.

The good news is that I’m convinced we just uncovered the fifth trillion-dollar industry! (Hat tip to my colleague, Justin Fritz, for putting this game changer on my radar a few months ago.)

So what is it? Well, it’s a form of 3-D printing, whereby objects are constructed by laying down successive layers of material.

[ad#Google Adsense 336×280-IA]Only in this case, instead of using plastics and metals, the printers use biological material. That’s right, living cells. And the products these printers create are living organs.

The specific technology is known as bioprinting. I know it sounds completely far fetched. And a tad too complicated to be realistic. But that’s what I thought, too, until I started doing some more research.

Today, I’m featuring a video in an effort to convince you, as well. So take a look, because I guarantee this is a technology you’re going to be hearing about in the years ahead.

It holds the potential to revolutionize the entire medical world, which is more than a $5 trillion industry!

 

Researching Today, Printing Profits Tomorrow

In terms of investment opportunities, it’s still premature to look for a pure-play bioprinting company. But research efforts are ramping up across the country…

For instance, researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina are trying to grow kidneys with printers.

A team at Wake Forest University is developing a printer-based method to grow new tissue to treat burn victims.

And over at the University of Texas at El Paso, engineers received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to perfect bioprinted cardiac patches.

So it shouldn’t be too long before bioprinting applications jump from the laboratory to the marketplace.

I recommend adding privately held, Organovo, to your watch list. The company developed the first commercial 3-D bioprinter for manufacturing human tissue and organs. Should it ever go public, it promises to be one hot IPO.

For those looking for an immediate opportunity, consider Stratasys (Nasdaq: SSYS) and 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD).

Both are pioneers in the broad 3-D printing space. (If you want to get a better understanding of 3-D printing technology, check out this New York Times video.)

And if bioprinting takes off as I expect, there’s no doubt both companies are going to be involved in the growth – either by making bioprinters or via licensing their intellectual property.

More favorably still, shareholders won’t have to wait for bioprinting to gain traction for the stocks to push higher, as both companies are enjoying explosive growth for traditional 3-D printers.

In the most recent quarter, sales jumped 24.9% for Stratasys and 56.9% for 3D Systems.

Bottom line: It’s time to officially put 3-D printing, and more specifically, bioprinting on your watch list.

The technology promises to change medicine forever and make switched on investors a bundle of money in the process.

Ahead of the tape,

— Louis Basenese

[ad#jack p.s.]

Source:  Wall Street Daily