Progress is being made in the development of 3D bioprinted organs, with researchers at Israel's Tel Aviv University anticipating transplantation-viable organs to become available in a decade. Milestones to date have included Poland-based researchers’ bioprinting of a functional prototype of a pancreas that realized stable blood flow in pigs, and U.S.-based United Therapeutics’ 3D-printing of a human lung scaffold. Multilayered skin, bones, muscle structures, blood vessels, retinal tissue and even mini organs all have been 3D printed. While none of the printed products are yet approved for human use and the first 3D bioprint from live cells to be implanted in a human, marks a significant moment along that progression.
In 3D bioprinting, the name of the game is cells. The process begins by generating the cells that researchers want to bioprint, which are then instructed to become organ specific cell types. The cells are then rendered into a printable living ink, or bioink, that involves mixing them with materials like gelatin or alginate to give them a toothpaste-like consistency. Stanford’s lab is studying how stem cells might naturally form such a consistency if crammed together at high density, which could lead to 3D printed organs made strictly from a patient’s own cells. However, most researchers put the idea of full-sized 3D-printed organ transplantation in humans somewhere between 20 and 30 years away.
More information:
https://fortune.com/well/2023/02/15/3d-printed-organs-may-soon-be-a-reality/