Stanford Scientists Use Stem Cells to 3D-Print Heart Tissue
Mark Skylar-Scott and his team of bioengineers have developed a technique that allows them to 3D-print living heart tissue. The goal is to one day have the ability to print crucial pieces of the heart, like valves and ventricles, that can actually grow with a patient.
Once the cells are printed, they take on the general shape of tissue that can then have blood vessel networks printed within them.
The team has already printed a tube-like structure similar to a human vein, that could actually pump fluid on its own. The next step would be printing a larger structure, like a functional chamber that could be grafted onto an existing heart.
Skylar-Scott said he thinks a heart valve printed using this technique could be implanted in a human patient in as little as five years, though we're likely at least two decades away from a fully printed heart.
https://www.cnet.com/science/stanford-scientists-use-stem-cells-to-3d-print-heart-tissue/
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