Chinese scientists have successfully implanted 3D printed blood vessels made from stem cells into rhesus monkeys, marking an important step towards printing blood vessels and other organs for human transplants.
“It is groundbreaking work that will change the way regenerative medicine will develop,” said Sir Alfred Cuschieri, a professor at Dundee university, who has visited the scientific team from biotech group Sichuan Revotek several times and hopes to bring it into international partnerships. “They are well ahead of the west.”
Scientists around the world are racing to construct biosynthetic organs that could begin to make up for the shortage of organs from human donors. One technique is to lay down living cells through a miniaturised 3D printer. Russian biotechnology group 3D Bioprinting Solutions recently reported that it had successfully transplanted a 3D-printed thyroid gland into a mouse.