Scientists have taken a major step closer to being able to 3D bioprint functional organs, after researchers devised a method of rebuilding components of the human heart, according to a study published in the August 2nd edition of Science.
The team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University developed an advanced version of Freeform Reversible Embedding of Suspended Hydrogels (FRESH) technology, to 3D print collagen with unprecedented complexity and construct components of the human heart spanning from small blood vessels to valves to beating ventricles.
Recently awarded US patent 10,150,258, FRESH technology is now licensed to FluidForm, a startup committed to dramatically expanding the capability of 3D printing. “We now have the ability to build constructs that recapitulate key structural, mechanical, and biological properties of native tissues,” said Prof. Adam Feinberg, CTO and co-founder at FluidForm and Principal Investigator of the Regenerative Biomaterials and Therapeutics Group at Carnegie Mellon, where the research was done. “There are still many challenges to overcome to get us to bioengineered 3D organs, but this research represents a major step forward.”