In a new development for bioprinting, Dr, Will Shu of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburg said, “We found that the valve-based printing is gentle enough to maintain high stem cell viability, accurate enough to produce spheroids of uniform size, and most importantly, the printed hESCs maintained their pluripotency - the ability to differentiate into any other cell type."
While 3D-printed stem cells won’t likely find their way into your full blown replacement organs anytime soon, researchers believe that they can be used to create tissues for drug testing.
Researchers believe that the new bioprinting technique will allow for tailor made therapies that can be introduced into tissues to better model cures for disease.
Jason King of Roslin Cellab, a biotech firm, said, “This is a scientific development which we hope and believe will have immensely valuable long-term implications for reliable , animal-free, drug testing, and, in the longer term, organs for transplant on demand, without the need for donation and without the problems of immune suppression and potential organ rejection.”
Image Courtesy of BBC