Valve-Based Printing of Human Organs

A specialized 3D printing process, using human stem cells, could potentially be used to replacement organs for patients, eliminating the need for organ donation, immune system suppression, and possible transplant rejection. The new valve-based technique, developed by the biomedical microengineering group at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland, a leading stem cell technology company, allowed the researchers to print embryonic cell cultures, which can replicate indefinitely and differentiate into multiple types of cells in the human body. The technique relies on an adjustable "microvalve" to build up layers of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Altering the nozzle diameter precisely controls the rate at which cells are dispensed. They say that the technique will allow them to create more accurate human tissue models that are essential to in vitro drug development and toxicity testing. In the long term, they foresee the technology being further developed to create viable 3D organs for medical implantation from a patient’s own cells.