Many people argue that the printing press was, by far, the most influential invention in human history and the machine that single handedly paved the way for present day communication. Without it we wouldn’t have been able to mass produce information like books and newspapers cheaply. This lead to the invention of the present day inkjet printers. The printers we print on everyday. Recently 3D printing has taken off and there has been much research going into the applications of this not yet flushed out technology. One such application, and the focus of this post, is the 3D printing of organs.
When this concept was first posed, there was a lot of backlash into the efficacy and ethicality, I mean there still is. This method of organ transplant can be looked at as “playing the hand of god”. The creation of organs from cells may be thought of as common knowledge but when it happens outside of pregnancy? That’s when things start to get controversial…. and in my opinion it’s when things get really interesting.
The idea behind 3D printed organs is more structured than one might think. Before I had heard anything about the technology my first thought was, “ Oh cool, engineering cells to come together and function on their own like an organ!” This idea isn’t completely wrong. The cells utilized in creating 3D printed organs need some help, they need a framework, a scaffold to be more precise.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/16/wake-forest-university-scientists-print-living-body-parts.html
This is an actual scaffold used in holding the cells to grow an ear. Scaffolds like this are a revolutionary technology for many reasons. Combining these scaffolds with the patient’s cells mitigates rejection by the body since the entire organ is made using the genetic material from the patient. 3D printing organs also allows for them to be stronger and more durable to physical stress. The polymers used in the scaffold are organic in nature and allow the patient cells to eventually take over and form the complete structure while retaining the stength of the scaffold.
3D printed organs would also remove the need for donors and are more ethical than human organs grown in animals. All organs have an age, a life span and donor organs are already old so they would have the chance of going bad quickly after the transplant. Also, since a donor would no longer needed with 3D printed organs there would no longer be a risk of rejection of the organ since, as I said above, the organ is grown from the patient’s cells. This same idea CAN BE true for growing organs inside animals such as pigs but this brings a whole slew of other problems. First off, the idea of growing organs inside other organisms is a bit unsettling. Second, the reason I phrased it as “can be” above is because the practice requires a bit more research and for the most part; there still would be some rejection since the organ is being grown in a foreign body compared to the host. On top of the rejection there is still the growth time of the animal itself. If the need for organs remains as high as it is we would need a lot of animals to carry our organs and keep them healthy, and they would need to grow to maturity before we could harvest the organs which would take quite a while.
Over-all 3D printed organs are a work in progress but they have a lot of promise. The retain speciality to the individual patient while being a relatively short growth time. These organs can be specified by their type and the scaffold that is used for their growth. Compared to the other options I feel like this is the best alternative we have at the moment. Because of the promise in this area of study I hope to see more people fund the research and come to accept it more
http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v32/n8/pdf/nbt.2958.pdf
http://bjo.bmj.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/content/98/2/159.full.pdf+html
http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/science/article/pii/S0306987715004715
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2015/02/11/4161675.htm
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/16/wake-forest-university-scientists-print-living-body-parts.html
Have they done trials on animals using organs made by 3D printing? If so, what results have come about from these studies? What types of organs do you think would benefit best from 3D printing? Do you think 3D printing will be more beneficial to organs that are stationary like the liver, or do you think that it’s possible to 3D print the scaffolds of the heart and have it be able to beat? As an engineer who is interested in the biomedical applications, I found your blog to be very interesting and I really liked the links you provided.
Kaitlin
So what are the ethical/moral concerns with this method?
I can see some potential ethical problems with “stock” cells being used to grow the organs, but if the patients own cells are used I don’t see any issue there. So what concerns do people bring up?
Also, are there any side effects that people are worried about? How well tested are the compounds used for the scaffolding?
The scaffold itself can be a point of concern. The scaffolds need to be made for the specific organ and this kind of specialty could cause problems unknown yet. For this reason much research is going into the scaffold compounds themselves.
Wow! I am very interested in this because I am wanting to go into the medical field. I was wondering if, in your research, you had found a valid list of all the different types of organs that they are able to make or are planning/attempting to make? Mostly aesthetic body parts such as an ear or nose are probably the simplest to construct, but what about more complex organs such as lungs, hearts, etc.?
This is a really cool topic that could be very valuable in the years ahead if more research is put into it. Before reading this blog post I did not know much about 3D printed organs other than just hearing the topic being mentioned. I think its really cool that you are basically able to make a mold of the organ for cells to fill out. One topic that you mentioned, “playing the hand of god,” I thought was an interesting one when thinking about the future. Do you think that 3D printing should be the sole replacement for organs after it is perfected, or do you think the option to have organs donated should still be in place?
It is interesting to read about this relatively new scientific discovery. I agree that this method is better alternative and should have more funding to provide more promising evidences for people to accept it . I am aware of the fact that more people are needing organs transplants and are on the wait lists . I think with this 3D printing, more lives can be saved.
Very interesting group post…
3D printed organs stand at the forefront of medical advancements that we have developed in the 21st century. There is no doubt that the practicality of this development will be taken advantage of, but I do agree with you in the fact that there will most likely be some strong opposition to the technology. On another note, I think that I disagree with your statement that donor organs would be obsolete if 3D printing of organs were to advance further. My thought is that 3D printing takes time, precious time in fact that many recipients may not have (which is why I see the need for donor organs to still be applicable regardless if we have this technology or not). What is your opinion on that?
Nice job, I have little exposure to this topic and I found your blog informative and unbiased. I especially liked how you laid out other current methods to your audience and allowed them to make their own decision on what method they think is superior.
This concept is really interesting to read about and you did a great job explaining it on a casual level. I liked that you gave the facts and even some of the controversies of the topic because it shows that you are open to new ideas. Lastly, I recently read an article showing that people have used this same technique but for 3-D printing bones for patients that have broken them or have serious conditions such as bone cancer.
I have never heard of 3D organ printing before so this was quite interesting. What kinds of testing have been done? As in, have they tested some of these organs in people or have they not gotten this far yet?
This is a really interesting topic. What sorts of organs have been printed, and have these organs been used on human patients yet?
I feel like 3D printing technology is advanced enough to start making huge headway in the donor organ market. The list of people needing organs is long, and the number of available organs is low. Hopefully this can be implemented quickly and safely.
Most of the “organs” that have been created and implanted are cartilaginous like ears, and nose. Internal organs are quite a bit trickier as expected due to the high level of cellular complexity and function. For example the liver caries out so many of the bodies metabolism reactions and cleans the blood. This organ is tricky because of needing to make sure the reactions that are needed are carried out. This idea can be applied to the heart where the inter-laced cells need to be flexing at the exact same time to make a functional heart.
This is a really cool topic to cover, and I like the way your blog post covered it– it’s not full of technical jargon. It’s also one of the things I’ve seen a lot of controversy over in recent years– it’s quite similar to the debate over stem cells. Why did y’all choose to cover 3D printed organs?
This is a very interesting topic! I was wondering if in some of the research you looked at a time frame was given on how long it would take to 3D print an organ?
The time frame is a bit unknown. The trick with this type of work is its specific to the patient, and making sure their specific cells will grow can change from patient to patient. This isn’t including the time it takes to develop the scaffold to have the correct structure. I would like to have a definitive answer of the time frame but there are so many variables that it’s hard to know without experimental results.
This is an interesting topic. Can all organs, like ones that require moving (the heart), be 3D printed or is it just certain organs? I feel like 3D organs and organs grown from embryonic stem cells are important to alert the public about because they can help save a lot of lives and increase the chance of survival. Also, have they actually started using 3D organs yet?
The heart is a tricky organ to make work due to its intrinsic function at how it moves. A lot of research still needs to go into that organ before we can create a reliable heart.
i think that this is a very interesting post and this idea of printing 3D organs presents many controversial issues. The use of the own patients cells is not always an option thus the use of donors will still be needed. Many people do not like the idea or are not comfortable with growing organs and having them placed in their body. Overall i thought the topic was good and gives people a lot to think about.