[ad_1]
For decades, one of the challenges of human tissue replication has been to find a way to get nutrients and oxygen into tissues and to eliminate waste. Our body uses vascular networks for this purpose, but it has been difficult to recreate them in soft and artificial materials.
This new tool overcomes these difficulties by printing thin layers of a pre-hydrogel liquid solution, which becomes solid when exposed to blue light. This allowed scientists to create biocompatible gels with a complex internal architecture similar to the vascular networks of the human body.
The researchers used other open source projects to create their tool called stereolithography apparatus for tissue engineering, or SLATE. And as a way to give back, they also created SLATE Open Source. Their conclusions have been published in Science this week, and all their experience data is free and open to the public. The researchers say that we are just beginning to understand the complex shape and function of body structures, but hope that this will help make 3D printed organs a viable option as soon as possible.
[ad_2]
Source link