Printing Human Tissue in Space
The TechShot 3D BioFabrication Facility (BFF) that was able to successfully 3D print human heart cells while aboard the ISS. Credit: TechShot Inc.
Imagine a future of transplant organs customized for each recipient, available on-demand. Instead of waiting for an organ from a donor, which could possibly take years and lead to your death due to rejection, a replacement organ could be 3D printed exactly for you. While we are not able to 3D print full organs yet, the 3D BioFabrication Facility (BFF) successfully printed a large volume of human heart cells while aboard the International Space Station (ISS), and had them recently returned to Earth on CRS-19.
Launched in July 2019 on CRS-18, the BFF is a specially designed 3D printer that is able to print human tissue samples from bio-ink. This bio-ink contains heart muscle cells, nerve cells, and vascular cells. Printing soft tissues, like blood vessels or muscle, is difficult on Earth because gravity makes the soft, easily flowing materials collapse under its own weight. However, microgravity allows these materials to retain the shape and structure as they are printed. To ensure the printed tissue is able to withstand the pull of Earth’s gravity (and the high reentry forces), the tissues are cell-cultured, strengthen them.
The heart cells printed during this latest mission measure 30 x 20 x 12.6 mm, which are large compared to Earth based bioprinting standards. These early samples from the BFF are returned to Earth, where they are evaluated and tested. Sample return from the ISS is a unique capability of the SpaceX Dragon capsule, returning experiments back to Earth under low gravity loads with significant cargo capacity. The next steps for the BFF include printing thicker and thicker samples, before eventually printing a full organ that can be tested a small animal, Techshot, the company developing the BFF, will also allow their customers to utilize the BFF’s printing capabilities after a few more tests.
The path to printing a full organ is still many years away, requiring more system testing and regulatory acceptance. However, 3D printed organs are an ethical approach for providing organs for people in need. Additionally, this represents one of the few business cases that makes sense for bringing space resource goods back to Earth (others include ZBlan optical fiber and crystals/proteins growth).
Learn more about the BFF here.
