Scientists out of Tel Aviv Department of Materials Science and Engineering, using a 3-D printer, have created the first vascularized heart using patient’s cells. While there have been breakthroughs of 3-D printing of biomatter such as tissue, and even heart structures, this is the first heart that includes cells and blood vessels. But don’t go and order a new heart right away. This is a first (big) step toward the kind of technology that may save millions of lives in the future—but right now, the heart scientists have created is small, the size of a rabbit’s heart.
Researcher Prof. Tal Dvir tells the Jerusalem Post that “This heart is made from human cells and patient-specific biological materials. In our process, these materials serve as the bio-inks, substances made of sugars and proteins that can be used for 3-D printing of complex tissue models.” This is essential to any future endeavor that would be used to replace organs inside of humans. Using a patient’s own cells would increase the chances for the organ to be accepted by the patient’s body.
The next steps are to make the heart work. Researchers say the cells can contract but they do not yet know how to pump like a heart. Getting over this hump will be the next big step to whether or not this “breakthrough,” can be achieved with this team’s methodology.
Dvir believes that this is a big enough step forward to yield this very positive and enthusiastic hope, “maybe in 10 years, there will be organ printers in the finest hospitals around the world, and these procedures will be conducted routinely.”