Faux Blood Vessels

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Medicine
Health
Society
Edward Hessler

One of the challenges in 3D bioprinting technology has been the fabricating multilayered tubular tissues composed of several different kinds of cells. Blood vessels come to mind but there are many other candidates: the trachea, intestine, colon, ureter, and urethra.

Hyacinth Empinado and Dominic Smith, writing for STAT (9/26/2018) describe research by a team from Brigham and Women's Hospital in the development of  "a printing nozzle that forms tubes with distinct layers, akin to the multilayered blood vessels that snake through the human body." The "ink" is made of "human cells in a jelly-like material infused with nutrients to support their growth."

Considerable research remains before such tubes can be used in blood vessel transplants, including tests in animals to learn about how well they function.

Empinado and Smith include a video showing, to use the words of the title, "new blood vessels, straight from the printer." Be amazed!

The research was published in the journal Advanced Materials ( 8/23/2018).

Read the article and watch the video.