Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has been making many fascinating advances in the 3D printing field. Their latest work on bioprinting, however, may be the most impressive. According to Monica Moya, the principal investigator and lab research engineer attached to the project, the group has successfully produced a 3D printed structure designed to develop by itself into a functional blood vessel.
“It’s going to change the way we do biology,” said Moya.
The laboratory team started by printing out tubes made from human primary cells, which would serve to deliver nutrients to the biological materials printed around them in the same way that nutrients are delivered in a natural set of blood vessels. When blood is pumped through these tubes, a network of capillaries form between them. The network lacks the organization of a natural system, but the team is currently pushing to find a way to print out a more organized system of blood vessels.
This technology represents a great step forward in bioprinting, and may allow medical teams to better create fully functional and entirely organic transplant tissues, or even fully printed organs.
