3D Heart Printing – A new leap for Organ Transplant

-      What if the humans actually start the manufacturing of organs required by the patients? 

The life expectancy would increase, there would not be any need of donors and many endangered species might be saved from extinction.

-          Israel’s School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology of University Tel Aviv has made it possible on April 19^th this year. They have 3D printed the first human heart with actual cells, blood vessels, chambers, and other structures. The team of scientists used fatty tissues from patients for converting them into stem cells and then processing it to make “Bioink” which was then used to make a 3D printed heart.

-          Many scientists have previously made a 3D heart structure but it was not as efficient and as real as this one. The size of this heart is the same as the size that of a Rabbit’s heart. This model still won’t pump the blood but further promising studies tell that it’ll definitely work as required, few years down the road.

-        Tal Dvir, a researcher with Tel Aviv University tells that the next step to their research is to “teach” 3D Printed heart to function normally and once that is done, the team will start the research on rats through a heart transplant.

-          Maybe 10 to 15 years down the road, we can actually, witness 3D printed organs bring transplanted and increasing the life of the expectancy of humans.


Author:    Ajinkya Bhonsle