Bioengineers have brought us one step closer to a future where transplant organs can be printed on demand
The structure they created had to be flexible enough to function as an organ, so the engineers used a technique where synthetic material is turned from liquid to solid in response to light. To prevent the structure from becomingrigid, they used food dyes to block light where needed and only created very thin solid layers to form a flexible overall structure.
Their proof-of-principle study showed that the 3D printed hydrogel model was strong enough to withstand the kind of movement that would happen in a real lung. The printed structure represents only a small part of a lung, just one alveolar subunit, no bigger than a penny. These types of interwoven networks don’t just occur in the lungs, but also in other organs. Another part of the group’s research involved the creation of a 3D printed liver for mice. They used the same hydrogel printing method to create a scaffold with blood vessels, around which liver cells could be grown. After transplanting these structures in mice that had liver damage, the 3D printed organ was able to restore liver function after 2 weeks.
Fully functioning 3D printed lungs or livers suitable for human transplantation are still a while away, but to help the field progress, Miller and his colleagues made sure that all the hydrogel design files that they created for this study so far are open source. That means that any other groups working on 3D printing organs can use their software in their own work.
We’re still years away from 3D printed organs being available to the thousands of people on organ donation waitlists, but by sharing material and working together with artists, these bioengineers have brought us another step closer.I’m a freelance science writer, focused on stories behind the research. My writing about the intersection of science, art and culture has appeared in Nautilus, The Scien...
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