How close are we really to 3D printing organs?
Australians may soon be implanted with 3D printed organs thanks to new research at the University of Sydney.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just five to ten years away鈥�.
From cures for cancer to fusion power and driverless cars, almost every technology seems to be perpetually five to ten years away.
For researchers,聽鈥渇ive to ten years away鈥澛爉eans we鈥檝e been working on it for quite a while and it seems聽feasiable, we just haven鈥檛 got there yet.聽
How stem cell research has changed since the 1800s
We聽understand people鈥檚聽scepticism聽when we say, 鈥渋n five to ten years we鈥檒l be 3D printing organs鈥�.聽Sceptical? Don鈥檛 believe us? Consider this.
Over the last decade, there has been a paradigm shift in stem cell research.
Since the mid-1800s, researchers have been growing cells in sheets layered on top of glass and plastic dishes. This method is the cornerstone of biological research and its impact has been immeasurable 鈥撀� it鈥檚 responsible for the development of vaccines for polio, measles and smallpox, as well as the insulin that鈥檚 used daily by millions of diabetics worldwide.
That鈥檚 why it鈥檚 surprising that stem cell biologists have stopped using this method. Why? It鈥檚 simple, a sheet of cells layered聽over a dish doesn鈥檛 behave anything like the organs from which they鈥檙e derived.
The change in method is the paradigm shift we鈥檙e talking about, the one that means 3D printed organs are knocking at your doorstep.
Progress on 3D printed organs?
Biologists have stopped growing cells in聽sheets layered over petri dishes and have started studying suspensions of three-dimensional organ-like cell masses, otherwise known organoids.聽
If given the right biochemical cocktail, stem cells will proliferate into聽supercellular聽networks that spontaneously聽organise聽into three-dimensional structures that mimic the physiology of real organs.
The progress is staggering and multifaceted. Organoids promise to cut down on the need for animal testing and offer improved models to understanding disease progression. However the study of organoids has offered unprecedented insights into the development of organs.
Producing organoids at a scale large enough to confer therapeutic benefit to humans remains a significant challenge. Large structures require supporting scaffold structures, such as the meshwork of collagens that stitch together the cells of your organs.聽
However recreating scaffold structures with sufficient detail to support the growth of large-scale cell structure has proven problematic.
Enter 3D printing.
The increase in life expectancy in Australia has improved dramatically in the last century with the expected age at death of 84.6 years for men and women 87.3 for women. This will lead to a significant increase in the need for organs to replace the damaged ones.
How the 鈥榠nvisibility cloak鈥� will help聽
While biologists have been busy聽revolutionising聽cell culture methods, engineers have developed 3D printers that can focus light so tight, it can聽polymerise聽features similar in size to that of a single collagen molecule. This technology is known as multi-photon 3D printing and is the brainchild of Professor Martin Wegener.
As a pioneering user of this technology he鈥檚 demonstrated materials that can bend light around object, effectively making them disappear. Yes, you read that correctly. He鈥檚 made an invisibility cloak. Professor visit marks the start of our journey with this technology.
The University of Sydney has drawn 笔谤辞蹿别蝉蝉辞谤听Wegener聽to our shores, and organised聽seminal lectures hosted at the Sydney Nanoscience Hub. This begins our journey with this technology.
Over the next five to ten years we aim to use multiphoton printing to build synthetic scaffolds mimicking the meshwork of collagens that hold organs together. These will be sufficiently complex scaffolds which will support the growth of organoids large enough for clinical applications. This much at least seems feasible, but trust us, we鈥檝e worked on it for a while.
Maybe it鈥檒l be more than five, or even ten years,聽before you鈥檙e stopping by the hospital to pick up a new heart, but you can bet that during this time we鈥檒l be 3D printing organs.
笔谤辞蹿别蝉蝉辞谤听聽is聽the Director of the Australian Research Centre for 聽and the Head of the Unit at the University of Sydney.
顿谤听 a research fellow at the ARC Training Centre for Innovative Bioengineering at the University of Sydney.
About the University of Sydney Nano Institute
With combined expertise from across the University's disciplines and access to purpose-built facilities, Sydney Nano's research is taking the field of nanoscience to new levels.
Nanoscience is the study of the structure and function of materials on the scale of nanometres, which is one billionth of a metre or roughly the size of about ten atoms in a row.
