I found myself this Monday scavenging Twitter searching for a story that either wasn't "Game of Thrones" spoilers or news on Tiger Woods winning the Masters. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure either would've been a good post. But after seeing all the tragedy that's occurring right now on the news, I wanted to find a positive story to cure those Monday blues.
Speaking of cures, it seems 3D printing has been taken to a new medical level. According to ScienceDaily.com, researchers from Tel Aviv University have "printed" the first ever human heart. The heart was engineered using a patient's own cells and other biological materials. It's currently only the size of a rabbit's heart, but it's a start.
This is a huge breakthrough, as until today scientists have only been able to print simple human tissues, and those were without blood vessels. Being able to create a fully operational heart is going to save many lives: heart disease is the #1 cause of death in men and women, and there is very limited heart donors.
I'll paste in the exact process of how the heart was made, but the use of "native" patient-specific materials is crucial to successfully engineering tissues and organs. Basically, researchers need some specific parts of a patient to create this.
The following is a direct quote from Science Daily, explaining how the heart was made:
For the research, a biopsy of fatty tissue was taken from patients. The cellular and a-cellular materials of the tissue were then separated. While the cells were reprogrammed to become pluripotent stem cells, the extracellular matrix (ECM), a three-dimensional network of extracellular macromolecules such as collagen and glycoproteins, were processed into a personalized hydrogel that served as the printing "ink."
After being mixed with the hydrogel, the cells were efficiently differentiated to cardiac or endothelial cells to create patient-specific, immune-compatible cardiac patches with blood vessels and, subsequently, an entire heart.
The heart can currently contract, but the cells need to work together to start pumping in order to be fully operational. The group predicts that organs could be printed in the next 10 years, calling it ROUTINE! Woah. Just imagine.
This is the first step in recreating other organs and saving people. Picture this, needing an organ transplant, and a doctor could just whip one out from a 3D printer. There's a lot that still needs to happen for that to be a reality, but it's the right step in the direction.
One small heart for man, one giant leap for technology!
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