Also, it seems to me, 3d printing a heart is one of the most complex organs to replicate. Wouldn't we start by mastering 3d-printing of less complex (and still useful?) human parts such as valves, veins, or hair?
Also, it seems to me, 3d printing a heart is one of the most complex organs to replicate. Wouldn't we start by mastering 3d-printing of less complex (and still useful?) human parts such as valves, veins, or hair?
https://3dprint.com/224629/3d-bioprinted-bladder/
The complexity of the heart is weird -- there's a lot of physical structure that's important, but at the same time I believe there's relatively little differentiation: it's mostly muscle; it's not a kidney or a lung. It's probably directly the opposite challenges to skin -- skin probably has more internal differences, but the physical layout are likely to just be laminar sheets.
(I am not an expert on biology.)
A friend I knew had the top part of his heart replaced with a leatherized cadaver graft, after suffering from a massive infection under the pericardium. He died about 8 years after that.
Veins and valves and hair issues have some avenues for treatment and don't necessarily result in death.
I haven't read the paper behind the press release, but I'm skeptical of claims about 3D printed tissue. The primary obstacle in the heart is having a perfusable network of vasculature that is simultaneously mechanically & electrically functional. This requires intact extracellular matrix as well as functioning cardiomyocytes & supporting cell types. Maybe that's just my bias though (I'm an author on: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.115....).
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-scientists-unveil-worl...
Source: I lead a tissue engineering project to print human organs for transplantation.
That may make it a suitable target if you want to start out with a boom and getting some PR, while first "products" out the door would be less complex ones.