Researchers have considered the idea of using 3D-printers to manufacture human organs for several years now. There is even an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” where one of the doctors successfully prints and transfers a portal vein into a patient. In 2014, a company called Organovo successfully engineered 3D-bioprinted livers and kidneys using live human cells and tissue. However, there has yet to be an official transplant operation performed on a human with printed organs. With the number of patients requiring an organ transplant increasing every year, researchers are hopeful that 3D-printing organs will become a successful and cheaper alternative to regular organ transplants, and with the help of astronauts, this dream might become a reality.
What is Organ Bioprinting?
So how do you exactly make a 3D-printed organ? According to a 2019 study conducted by Xiohong Wang, “organ bioprinting is the use of 3D-printing technologies to assemble multiple cell types, growth factors and biomaterials in a layer-by-layer fashion to produce bioartificial organs that ideally imitate their natural counterparts”. The doctor would obtain a cell or tissue sample from the patient, and would grow that sample in an incubator in the lab. They would then feed the cells nutrients and combine them with a gel to act as a kind of glue. Then, the mixture is loaded into the printer like filament and used to print the organ layer by layer. The printers are able to be programmed to each patient’s specific measurements and requirements using their X-rays and other scans. While this method has yet to be approved and tested on humans, there have been successful cases of skin transplants on animals. Scientists say we still have over a decade to go on bioprinting research and testing before these organs can be transplanted into humans, but when we are successful, the benefits would be remarkable. Every year, only a small percentage of patients on the organ transplant list end up receiving the organ they need to live, while the others continue to wait another year or sadly, pass away. Since the organs will be grown from a patient’s own cells, there would be no need to wait years for a perfect match. They would be able to have a perfectly unique organ grown in a matter of days. Even if a patient is able to receive a transplant of their required organ, they are still at risk for rejection, which could put them right back on the transplant list. By printing organs with the individual’s own cells, the body will not see it as a foreign object and the risk of organ rejection could be eliminated once and for all. Another remarkable benefit of bioprinting is the potential to eliminate animal testing for skincare and cosmetics. Beauty brands can use human cells to grow their own skin tissue to test their products without harming animals and acquire more accurate results. L’Oreal has already partnered with Organovo to pioneer bioprinting testing in the beauty industry.
So Where do the Astronauts Come in?
While bioprinting research is picking up, there are still many challenges that prevent this technology from reaching its potential any time soon. One of the common issues in bioprinting is the need to create a type of scaffold to hold the organ together while it is printing. Even with regular plastic 3D printing, you have to include a support structure to help maintain the shape and precision of your design as it prints. These support structures are then removed after the design is complete. When printing organs, precision is extremely important and unless it has the proper support structure that can be easily removed, they have a tendency to collapse under gravity’s influence. This is why Andrew Morgan, a battlefield doctor for the US Army decided to conduct bioprinting experiments during his time at the International Space Station where gravity is not a problem. During his 272-day space experience in 2019, Morgan used the bio fabrication technology to “test prints of cardiac-like tissue of increasing thickness”. His team then froze their research samples and brought them back to Earth for further analysis. Space travel for the sake of research is not cheap though, so researchers are investigating a way to conduct similar low-gravity experiments here on Earth in the upcoming years. While the team was only able to print tissue samples while in space and their results may seem minuscule in the grand scheme of the end goals of bioprinting, Morgan’s research is one small step in the timely race towards a medical breakthrough.
Great post Mary-Taylor, I think this is an interesting development and something we will probably see working on humans in our lifetime. My only concern is that this is going to be quite hard to mass produce and roll out to the general public. The rich people can afford it and they get to stay, so how much will stuff like this end up costing? Are there going to be loans available for people to purchase a kidney?
It’s hard to say at this point in time, but the goal is to have bioprinted organs cost less than a regular transplant. It will still cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and I’m not sure how insurance will come into play, but considering the costs patients accrue through years of hospital visits and treatments while waiting for a transplant, the cost of a printed organ should be the same or less than a regular transplant.
OK. That’s a cool post. Of course, I could imagine the whole process being automated in big Zero-G factories that custom print organs. Regardless, nice work!
Hey Mary Taylor, I thought your post this week was very interesting. As an avid fan of Greys Anatomy, I think the idea of printing organs is very cool. Although I don’t think we are going to see an official federal approved printed organ for years to come, I think its a good start and could help thousands to millions of people all across the world.
Hey Mary Taylor! This is such an interesting post to read. I was honestly confused about when the astronauts came in, but once I came to the second and third paragraph, I started to understand it more. I could definitely tell that this will be a huge thing sooner or later, but time will only tell.
Hi Mary Taylor! Great post. I always have heard how getting a transplant can take years to get, especially for those organs that are a bit harder to obtain compared to others. I think that 3D-printed organs would be amazing for this, but I am concerned on how effective they are in comparison to actual organs when placed in a human body. Like you said, I’m sure that science and biotechnology will continue to improve these 3D-printed organs, but as for right now, it’s a bit scary to think about in your body (at least for me)!
It’s also really cool to think about how the printed organs can also affect other industries, like the animal testing space. It would be really nice to have the organ transplant list decrease, more people surviving, and less animals testing. I’m excited to see where this ends up!
Hi Marytaylor, I loved this blog post! Bioprinting is an exciting and promising field that has the potential to revolutionize organ transplants and eliminate the need for animal testing in the beauty industry. It is fascinating to learn about the process of bioprinting and how it works. The use of space travel to conduct low-gravity experiments is an innovative way to overcome the challenges faced in bioprinting. I am excited to see how this technology continues to progress and the positive impact it could have on healthcare and the environment.
Great post! This is such a fascinating topic that I had no idea about before! With 3D and bio-printing becoming more prevalent I think we will start to see these solutions implemented into treatment plans/recommendations in the next decade or so. To another student’s point in the comments, the only concern with this is the cost and availability to lower-income individuals. I am interested to see how these innovations impact the healthcare industry during our lifetime!
Hey MaryTaylor, this was an interesting post. With new technology like this and possibly neaurolink in the future I wonder how long the average human will live to be. If we can solve neurological problems in our brains and replace organs when they are worn down who knows how big of an impact that will be on our health?! Could the first person to live forever be born already?
That was one thing I found in my research that I didn’t mention. The possibility of replacing a person’s heart to be better at a sport or organs of older people that don’t necessarily need a transplant, but having one would improve their way of life seems entirely possible. I didn’t find anything about the ability to extend life span but I don’t consider that impossible. If we could just re-print and transplant parts of our body over time I don’t see why we couldn’t live much longer lives than we do now. Crazy.
This technology is life changing! I can only imagine how many lives could be saved with an authorized 3D printed organ. I am not sure I would want to be the one, that this is tried on for the first time, but if this undergoes several tests and proves its worth, it could be world altering. This is some serious Science Fiction we are witnessing first hand!
Hi Mary Taylor, this post was incredible. The possibility for humans to bioprint human organs is both scary as well as exciting. It will be very cool to follow this field as it evolves. I’m with Garrett that I wouldn’t want to necessarily be the one that this is tried on. Lastly, it is very impressive that Andrew Morgan had an idea that brought the industry to where it is today.