3D printing finds its heart

In a study published in July, researchers at the University of Minnesota reported that they’d successfully made a functioning, scaled-down, human heart pump using 3D printing.

The researchers 3D printed high densities of pluripotent human stem cells, which have the potential to develop into any type of cell, onto an extracellular matrix, then reprogrammed them to form heart muscle. Using this method, they were able to create a 1.5cm-long muscle that beats just like a human heart, in less than a month.

“I couldn’t believe it when we looked at the dish in the lab and saw the whole thing contracting spontaneously and synchronously, and able to move fluid,” said lead researcher Prof Brenda Ogle.

The mini heart is like a closed pouch, with both a fluid inlet and outlet, and allows researchers to measure how the organ moves blood within the body.

The team is now planning to use the model to study the effects of various types of damage and disease, as well as those of medicines and other therapies.

According to the British Heart Foundation, heart and circulatory diseases cause nearly 170,000 deaths in the UK each year.