Organovo Will 3D Print a Liver in 2014
Organovo (NYSE: ONVO) is pioneering the field of bioprinting, or 3D printing living tissue. To date, the company has demonstrated the ability to 3D print living tissue in a lab environment for the purposes of testing new drug therapies.
Now it looks like the company will achieve the holy grail of bioprinting next year: 3D printing a human liver.
Read: Bioprinting is a Multi-Billion Dollar Pharma Opportunity for 3D Printing
The technical challenge to 3D printing a full organ is that an organ needs a vascular system for blood flow and vitality. Organovo now believes it has the capability to embed a vascular system in a 3D printed liver.
“We have achieved thicknesses of greater than 500 microns, and have maintained liver tissue in a fully functional state with native phenotypic behavior for at least 40 days,” said Mike Renard, Organovo’s executive vice president of commercial operations in an interview with ComputerWorld.
(Pictured above: Organovo CEO Keith Murphy presents his roadmap at Inside 3D Printing San Jose 2013)
We probably won’t see a 3D printed organ implanted in a human patient in 2014, but just producing living tissue at the scale of a liver is groundbreaking.
[…] pioneer Organovo looks to 3D print a full-scale human liver in 2014, achieving the holy grail of […]