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Researchers are using 3D printers to make blood vessels
There has been talk of printing blood vessels for a few years, but it's tricky to make tissue that fits the complex shapes of a human body while remaining effective. However, a research team at Brigham and Women's Hospital may have licked that problem: they've 3D printed vessels using a new technique that allows for intricate yet capable designs. Their process first prints agarose (sugar-based molecule) fibers as templates for the vessels, and then covers that in jelly-like hydrogel to produce a cast. Since the agarose is sturdy, scientists can pull it out to create channels without damaging any cells inside the gel; the resulting vessels are much better at transporting liquid and otherwise behaving like the real deal.
