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In a major medical breakthrough, Tel Aviv University researchers have “printed” the world's first 3D vascularized (有血管的）engineered heart using a patient’s own cells and biological materials. Their findings were published on April IS in a study in Advanced Science.

“This is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart,” says Prof. Tal Dvir of Department of Materials Science and Engineering, who led the research for the study. “This heart is made from human cells and patient-specific biological materials. In our process, these materials serve as the bioinks, something made of sugars and proteins that can be used for 3D printing of complex tissue models，” Prof, Dvir says. “People managed to 3D print the structure of a heart in the past, but not with cells or with blood vessels (血管).Our results demonstrate the potential of our approach for engineering personalized tissue and organ replacement in the future.”

According to Prof. Dvir，the use of “ native ” patient-specific materials is important to successfully engineering tissues and organs.

The researchers are now planning on culturing the printed hearts in the lab and “ teaching them to behave” like hearts, Prof. Dvir says. They then plan to transplant the 3D-printed heart in animal models.

“We need to develop the printed heart further，” he concludes. “The cells need to form a pumping ability ； they can currently contract (收缩），but we need them to work together. Our hope is that we will succeed and prove our method’s efficacy (功效)and usefulness. “Maybe, in ten years, there will be organ printers in the finest hospitals around the world，and these procedures will be conducted routinely. ”