{"id":117208,"date":"2020-12-16T15:22:18","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T23:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/researchers-develop-new-method-to-print-tiny-functional-organs"},"modified":"2020-12-16T15:22:18","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T23:22:18","slug":"researchers-develop-new-method-to-print-tiny-functional-organs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/researchers-develop-new-method-to-print-tiny-functional-organs","title":{"rendered":"Researchers develop new method to print tiny, functional organs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SMao4zZDSyg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Researchers at EPFL have developed an approach to print tiny tissues that look and function almost like their full-sized counterpart. Measuring just a few centimeters across, the mini-tissues could allow scientists to study biological processes\u2014and even test new treatment approaches\u2014in ways that were previously not possible.<\/p>\n<p>For years, mini versions of organs such as the brain, kidney and lung\u2014known as \u201corganoids\u201d\u2014have been grown from <a href=\"https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/tags\/stem+cells\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">stem cells<\/a>. Organoids promise to cut down on the need for <a href=\"https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/tags\/animal+testing\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">animal testing<\/a> and offer better models to study how human organs form and how that process goes awry in disease. However, conventional approaches to grow organoids result in stem cells assembling into micro-to millimeter-sized, hollow spheres. \u201cThat is non-physiological, because many organs, such as the intestine or the airway, are tube-shaped and much larger,\u201d says Matthias L\u00fctolf, a professor at EPFL\u2019s Institute of Bioengineering, who led the study published today in Nature Materials.<\/p>\n<p>To develop larger organoids that resemble their normal counterparts, L\u00fctolf and his team turned to bioprinting. Just as 3D-printers allow people to create everyday objects, similar technology can help bioengineers to assemble living tissues. But instead of the plastics or powders used in conventional 3D-printers, bioprinters use bioinks\u2014liquids or gels that encapsulate living cells. \u201cBioprinting is very compelling because it allows you to deposit cells anywhere in 3D space, so you could think of arranging cells into an organ-like configuration such as a tube,\u201d L\u00fctolf says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers at EPFL have developed an approach to print tiny tissues that look and function almost like their full-sized counterpart. Measuring just a few centimeters across, the mini-tissues could allow scientists to study biological processes\u2014and even test new treatment approaches\u2014in ways that were previously not possible. For years, mini versions of organs such as the [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":511,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1902,1503,11,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bioengineering","category-bioprinting","category-biotech-medical","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/511"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}