Artificial Proximal Tube
May 7, 2019 | Terry Sharrer
In 3D bioprinted “living renal devices” (i.e. artificial nephrons), engineers have to mimic two functions of the nephrons: filtration and reabsorption. Failure of either causes kidney damage. To address this, researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute and Roche’s Innovation Center in Basel, Switzerland have created a vascularized nephron model. “The tubules and accompanying blood vessels are 3D printed right next to each other inside an extracellular matrix. This is a big leap over previous research that led to the development of the proximal tubules, but without the matching blood vessels. The new development allows experiments to be conducted that closely replicate natural kidney functions.” MORE
Image Credit: Harvard’s Wyss Institute, Roche’s Innovation Center, and MedGadget.com