First You Gotta Have (a 3D-Printed) Heart

Using advanced 3D printing techniques, Mark Skylar-Scott and his team want to transform a paste made of living cells into hearts and other organs. They’re manufacturing thick tissues one layer at a time, placing the exact type of cells needed at the right spots. As promising as it may be, 3D printing with cells comes with some deep and thorny challenges. Watch this video to learn more about the process.

“If we can develop more tissues like this, we might have a decent halfway point to building something that can be implanted in the human body,” says Mark Skylar-Scott , assistant professor of bioengineering in the schools of Engineering and Medicine.