Katharina Buczek
According to the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration, over one hundred and five thousand people are on the national transplant waiting list.
Kidneys are the most sought-after organ, with just over ninety-thousand people waiting in line.
Thereafter, about twelve thousand people are waiting for a liver, three thousand and five hundred people are waiting for a heart, and just over one thousand are waiting for a lung.
Sadly, there are nowhere near enough organs to go around. Every single day, seventeen people in the U.S. alone die while waiting for an organ transplant.
This reality has pushed hopeful scientists to experiment with bioengineering, and one research team is making leaps and bounds.
Robert Chang, an associate professor at Stevens’ Schaefer School of Engineering & Science in New Jersey, recently published a groundbreaking research study that outlines an advanced 3D-printing plan for any human tissue.
The concept of 3D printing organs is nowhere near new. Although, the complex challenges have afforded the idea some pushback in recent years.
Current 3D bio-printers use extrusion, which, in other words, sprays bio-liquid out of a nozzle. The structures created are one-tenth the width of spaghetti.
Chang’s approach instead uses a process known as microfluidics. Microfluidics allows for a much more precise and manipulative application since the bio-liquid travels through minuscule channels.
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