3D Printing Brings Artificial Organs Closer to Reality

Image credit: Fernando Zhiminaicela via Pixabay

The quest to develop functional human organs outside the body has long been a central – yet ever-elusive – tenet of organ transplantation research.

Researchers have now developed a novel technique to create intricate vascular networks within heart tissue using 3D printing, bringing the field closer to breakthroughs in engineered implantable human organs.

Published in a recent edition of Advanced Materials, this innovation features a technique called coaxial sacrificial writing in functional tissue (co-SWIFT), enabling the formation of interconnected blood vessels that mimick both the physical structure of natural blood vessels as well as show the potential to support living tissue.

“Previously, we developed a 3D bioprinting method known as sacrificial writing in functional tissue (SWIFT) to create hollow channels within a living cellular matrix,” said the study’s first author, Paul Stankey in this story with Harvard’s Wyss Institute.

“With this new approach, coaxial SWIFT (co-SWIFT), we can now reproduce the multilayer structure of native blood vessels, facilitating the formation of interconnected endothelium and improving resistance to blood flow pressure.”

The full article is available via Advanced Materials, or check out this story from Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.