{"id":14501,"date":"2016-11-14T18:28:45","date_gmt":"2016-11-14T23:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/3d-bioprinting-effective-testing-now-and-maybe-organ-printing-in-the-future\/"},"modified":"2016-11-14T18:28:45","modified_gmt":"2016-11-14T23:28:45","slug":"3d-bioprinting-at-organovo-effective-testing-now-and-maybe-organ-printing-in-the-future","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/3d-bioprinting-at-organovo-effective-testing-now-and-maybe-organ-printing-in-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"3D-Bioprinting at Organovo: Effective testing now and maybe organ \u201cprinting\u201d in the future?"},"content":{"rendered":"

3D printing is the process of producing a 3-D physical object from a design created using computer aided design software (CAD). [1]<\/a> 3D printing works on a principle called additive manufacturing, where each layer of the physical object is added one by one[2]<\/a> ;each layer could be thought of as one part of a horizontal cross-section of the full structure.[3]<\/a> In the medical biotechnology industry, 3D printing is used to develop tissue-like structures that could be used in a wide range of areas including evaluating the effect of drugs, developing organ replicas, and making implants and prosthetics.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Organovo is the first company in the world to have developed and commercialized the 3D bioprinter. [5]<\/a> 3D bioprinting helps (1) surgeons make critical decisions and (2) pharmaceutical companies test their new drugs quickly and more cheaply, allowing these companies to quickly cut off further investments in less promising drugs and invest more in promising drugs. [6]<\/a><\/p>\n

Organovo\u2019s process can be summarized as follows:<\/p>\n