Ever since 3D printing technology became a thing, we’ve all been wondering what wonders we would be able to accomplish at a simple click of a button.
3D-printed cars? Guns? Bones and joints? What about organs?
The latter has now witnessed a huge breakthrough, as scientists and engineers from Rice University and the University of Washington say they have been able to develop the technology for printing human tissues.
The paper, published in Science magazine, reveals that scientists have been able to bioprint vascular networks that are vital for fluids such as blood. The team were also able to successfully implant 3D-printed liver cells into mice.
“One of the biggest road blocks to generating functional tissue replacements has been our inability to print the complex vasculature that can supply nutrients to densely populated tissues,” bioengineer and lead author Jordan Miller said.
“These interpenetrating networks are physically and biochemically entangled, and the architecture itself is intimately related to tissue function. Ours is the first bioprinting technology that addresses the challenge of multivascularization in a direct and comprehensive way,” Miller explained.
If we were able to bioprint organs, the issue around organ donation and transplant would improve significantly. In the US, there are more than 100,000 patients waiting for organs – people whose lives could be saved with this type of technology.
“We envision bioprinting becoming a major component of medicine within the next two decades,” Miller said.
Even though the technology is still in its infancy, it’s hard not to get excited, as this could change the medical profession and human lives enormously.
Miller and his team have said they are already looking into other “architectures in the human body” that may benefit from this technology being put to medical use. – dpa
