One biotech company has taken the first steps toward printing functional human organs for transplants.Read more here.
...one of the more promising technologies is bioprinting: using 3D printing technology to build a new organ cell by cell.
This technology is still in its infancy, but a handful of companies are trying to bring organ printing into hospitals. One of those companies is BIOLIFE4D, which has taken the first step toward that goal by printing a patch of human cardiac tissue.
...While a two-dimensional patch of cardiac tissue is nowhere near a functional human heart, it does meet some of those conditions. The cardiac patch is fully functional human tissue with diverse cell types, and it can actually be implanted into the body to repair a patient’s malfunctioning heart.
BIOLIFE4D hopes that this type of cardiac patch could be used to treat victims of heart attacks and heart disease by replacing the affected heart tissue with brand new tissue. If they’re right, this tech could go a long way toward helping some of the millions of people who suffer from those conditions.
And while an effective treatment for cardiac patients sounds pretty good, BIOLIFE4D isn’t stopping until they make a full human heart. The next step for the company is to print a three-dimensional structure, and then achieve their next goal: a mini-heart, with the same structure and function of a full-sized one. From there, the company hopes to scale up their product and start implanting them in the people who need them.
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Thursday, July 05, 2018
Organ printing
Avery Thompson reports in Popular Mechanics,
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