March Meeting Recap: 1st Successful 3D Printed Mini Human Heart
At the OTS meeting that was held on March 6, 2020 we learned about the latest advances in transplantation - bioprinting of human organs for transplants. The speakers for this meeting were Mr. Steven Morris and Kate Lewis from BIOLIFE4D, a biotech company with headquarters in Lincolnshire, Illinois. The motto of BIOLIFE4D is “Build a Heart, Save a Life.”
The mission of BIOLIFE4D is to create a fully functioning heart through 3D bioprinting and the patient’s own cells, which will eliminate the challenges of organ rejection and long donor waiting lists that currently exist in transplantation today.
Our speakers explained how 3D bioprinting works to create cells and then more complex structures like organs. We were all fascinated when we watched a video that showed the cells being made layer by layer in a scaffolding method. As Steven Morris told us: “This is not science fiction, it is science FACT.”
BIOLIFE4D has already successfully created a fully functioning mini human heart, the size of a plum. The goal of BIOLIFE4D is to bring this mini human heart to the market in the next year. These mini hearts can be used by pharmaceutical companies in cardiac toxicity tests. Every drug compound requires cardiac toxicity tests and live animals are used in these tests. A minimum of 3 animals die for every drug compound tested. If a mini human heart is used for toxicity testing instead of animals BIOLIFE4D states that the bio printed heart will improve the safety, efficacy and liability of the drug tests. The mini human heart will also have the potential of saving many animal lives from being used in drug testing.
We encourage anyone interested in this new advance in organ transplantation to check out the website of BIOLIFE4D at www.biolife4D.com. There is a terrificvideo on the home page that explains how bioprinting works to create a mini human heart.
Thank you to Steven Morris and Kate Lewis of BIOLIFE4D for this fascinating presentation at the March OTS meeting.