What is bioprinting?
The three-dimensional printing of biological tissue and organs through the layering of living cells. Why is this in the news? Scientists at Sydney’s Heart Research Institute are using a new bioprinter to print cells that they say could replace a patient’s damaged heart cells.
How would that work?
Patients would provide cells from their skin, from which stem cells and then heart cells would be generated. The beating stem cells would then be printed into tissue which would be stuck directly onto a patient’s heart to repair damage.
Is this research just happening in Sydney?
No, it’s becoming quite widespread. For example, the University of Louisville in Kentucky has printed small veins with cells and tested the blood vessels in mice.
Is printing a whole organ something that is possible?
Professor Stuart Williams of the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute believes scientists may be able to print and assemble an
entire heart in the next three years.
What about putting that heart in an actual person?
Professor Williams says there are still a lot of major hurdles, but if research, development and testing go according to plan, it may be possible within a decade.