3-D Printed Ligaments and Tendons
November 27, 2018 | Terry Sharrer
Biomedical engineers at the University of Utah have shown how to use a 3-D printer to make ligaments and tendons. “The 3-D-printing method, which took two years to research, involves taking stem cells from the patient’s own body fat and printing them on a layer of hydrogel to form a tendon or ligament which would later grow in vitro in a culture before being implanted. But it’s an extremely complicated process because that kind of connective tissue is made up of different cells in complex patterns. For example, cells that make up the tendon or ligament must then gradually shift to bone cells so the tissue can attach to the bone.” MORE
Image Credit: University of Utah