The new study uses bio-3D printing technology to "print" tiny kidneys

SYDNEY, Nov. 27 (Xinhua Chen Yu) An international research team using a new biological 3D printing technology, in the laboratory can quickly "print" a large number of micro-kidney organs, the future is expected to be applied to human organ transplantation related research, and finally achieve the use of artificial kidneys for patients with severe kidney disease organ transplantation.
new technology was developed by the Murdoch Children's Institute in Australia and the US biotech company Oganovo. The researchers loaded "bio-inks" made from human stem cells into a specially designed bio-3D printer and then squeezed them out through a computer-controlled pipetting tube and "printed" kidney tissue in a petri dish.
researchers say the technology could print about 200 tiny kidney-like organs about the size of nail caps in about 10 minutes, which have the basic units that make up the structure and function of the kidneys, kidney units, that can be used to detect the drug's toxicity to the kidneys, or to test the efficacy of new treatments for kidney disease, helping to develop personalized treatments for patients with different kidney diseases.Melissa Ritter, author of the
paper and a professor at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, points out that in the past, artificial kidney tissue cultivated with stem cells contained too few kidney units to be used for kidney transplantation, and that this bio-3D printing technology has high cell replication accuracy, improving the number of kidney units in printed tissue and promising to advance research on the use of bioprinted kidneys for human organ transplantation.
paper has been published in a new issue of the British journal Nature Materials.