3D printed heart

Bioengineers in Israel have created a 3D printed heart.  According to this piece: “To create their heart, the researchers biopsied fatty tissue from the patients and then separated the cellular material of the tissue from the a-cellular. The individual cells were reprogrammed to become induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) while the extracellular matrix was processed into a personalized hydrogel consisting of the tissues’ collagen and glycoproteins.  After combining the cells with the gel, the iPSCs were differentiated to cardiac or endothelial cells to form cardiac patches, complete with blood vessels, that would come together resulting in a complete heart that was patient-specific and immune-compatible.”  The heart is complete, but the chambers do not beat in sync.        MORE

Image Credit:  Prof. Dvir, Dr. Assaf Shapira of TAU’s Faculty of Life Sciences and Nadav Moor, a doctoral student