Dr. Atala on 3D tissue printing

Here’s a recent article by tissue engineering pioneer Dr. Anthony Atala. He makes a great point that printing tissue is beneficial not just so doctors can replace parts, but also so that drugs can be put through better testing.

He writes: “[I]n collaboration with five other institutions, we are working to print miniature hearts, lungs, blood vessels and livers onto “chips” that will be connected with a blood substitute. Called a “body on a chip,” the system has the potential to speed up the development of new drugs because it could potentially replace testing in animals, which can be slow, expensive and not always accurate.”

Awesome.