Organ Printing

Dr. Gabor Forgacs made that prediction. Now, he is making it a reality. Gabor is a University of Missouri researcher doing groundbreaking work in regenerative medicine. He is also the Scientific Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Organovo, the latest company to receive support from you, the donors of the Methuselah Foundation.

As we work to identify breakthrough technology that will help us reach our shared goal of extending healthy human life, Organovo stands out. Thanks to your contributions we are able to assist them as they apply their proprietary technology to "print" new organs.
Organovo: Printing Organs

The "ink" in the bioprinting process employed by Organovo is composed of spheres packed with tens of thousands of human cells. These spheres are assembled or "printed" on sheets of organic biopaper. By precisely placing the cells with the bioprinter, and providing them with the proper natural developmental cues, they do exactly what they do in nature: they self assemble into fully formed, functional tissue.

The unique science blends biophysics and cell biology with computer aided design and high precision deposition to recreate the micro-architecture of the most complex human tissue. Organovo is currently developing blood vessels and intends to use the same technology to create organs or bio-constructs that reproduce organ function.

Dr. Forgacs envisions fully implantable organs printed from a patient's own cells. "You give us your cells: we grow them, we print them, the structure forms and we are ready to go," he says. "I am pretty sure that full organs will be on the market [one day]." These organs may not look like our organs but they will function just like the real thing.

The Possibilities for Transplants
Organ printing allows new tissue to replace diseased tissue. Since new tissue can be developed from cell sources from your own body, rejection of transplanted tissue is not an issue. The cells can be taken from youthful progenitor cells in your bone marrow to replace the older diseased cells. The cells ability to self-assemble means they will organize themselves into a functional tissue after being positioned.

This is where Organovo stands out: the challenges in using stem cells for medical therapies have shown that the results of injecting cells in solution are limited - cells alone can only do so much. But a functional piece of tissue from the patient's own progenitor cells, which can be matured outside the organism, ex vivo, under conditions similar to those it will see in vivo, can add tremendously to the therapeutic power of the cells themselves.

Tissue on Demand

The company anticipates becoming the leader in surgical tools made from human cells; providing raw material in the form of tissue for surgeons use. According to Organovo CEO Keith Murphy, "We expect our tissue printing technology to become the underlying foundation for 3D tissue research in the future. By enabling researchers all over the world to compose their functional tissue of interest and conduct research upon it, we can speed medical research across the spectrum and bring new tissue types to patients sooner."

Thanks to your continued support we are able to assist Organovo as they develop practical solutions to the problems of aging. This is a practical example of how we might see significant progress in extending our healthy lifespan.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Organ
• Printing
• Methuselah

[3004z]

This brings up a question. I'm sure the rich will be able to replace an organ for 50k or 100k a piece but what about the other "little" people? I doubt many would be able to pay for insurance that covers this. Who would give you a loan for this? Maybe you would have to pre-pay from very early on in your life. Should the government pay for it? I'm sure they would eventually go bankrupt. Otherwise you have no option than to just let nature take its course.

[8tropos]

@3004z

Why would that be the case ? The fact that (by example) every european needs to have health insurance (by law!) keeps the expensive and longitudinal health interventions out of capitalist speculation. If replacing a malfunctioning liver by a printed new one ones becomes the standard, the implications should be no different for the rich or the poor or the middle class. Your health insurance will cover it since they can't discriminate over essential things. 

[3004z]

@8tropos

What I describe is they kind of problem you would encounter in the U.S.A. if this was already available here. Many people cant even afford health insurance. They have to wait until their illness is life threatening to get treatment in the emergency room. Unfortunately many people die here because insurance companies deny a life saving treatment or surgery. They would certainly do everything they could to avoid paying for a new organ. I can see in Belgium it would be a different story.

[8tropos]

@3004z

Thats why you Americans need to support Obama !

[booste30]

This guy's going to win the Nobel Prize.

[CliffThe1st]

So why isn't this already in use?

[grisgrisy]

you have some great stuff here

[osclarkos]

very interesting video thanks

[MrPotatoheadd]

Can you make clones as well? i bet you allready do..

[happinesson]

too good to be true. This can extend the life expectancy of people now a days.

[mtoussieh]

@gr8print The USA would do very well turning into what Europe has become. They are both broke, loosing power quickly, threatened by extremism and terrorism but at least Europe is more free, there is less regulation on a lot of things, less people in jail, and I've been to both and Europe is 100 times more beautiful, more cultured, I'd say more advanced than the USA...

[mtoussieh]

@booste30 There is no such thing as a Nobel Prize on the field of medicine...

[quennj92]

This blew my mind, but:

This process would be fantastic if say, a healthy organ was suddenly damaged, like in a accident. But what if the organ failed for other reasons, like old age? What are the implications of using old cells? Would the new organ fail more quickly then? Also, if the organ failed because of a genetic disorder, wouldn't the new one be just at risk of mutation and failure?

In both these cases, what's the longevity of these organs? What's the longevity of an ideal printed organ?

[DEEPENIMYLIFE]

I would like to know if tooth budding has been studies. I read about tooth budding in a sci-fi book "The Door Into Summer" by Robert A. Heinlein.

It is an area of health creation that would be hot! for all the baby boomers.

Hunter

[selftaughtninja]

@booste30 no he isnt . Because there are too many mind blowing technologies coming out. But he will indeed get acknowledged.