A completed 3D-bio-printed heart. Photo Credit: Carnegie Mellon University, College of Engineering
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh have used a unique 3D polymer printing technology to create what’s being called the first full-size 3D-printed bio-model of the human heart.
The model – which realistically mimics the elasticity of cardiac tissue and sutures – is designed to give surgeons and physicians practice for heart surgeries and study other heart-related conditions, and was created by Adam Feinberg, a professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering and his team using a custom Freeform Reversible Embedding of Suspended Hydrogels (FRESH) technique.