Medical 3D Printing & Bioprinting
Researchers at TU Wien (Vienna) have 3D printed a placenta on a chip to specifically study the permeability of the placenta and gain a better understanding of how it works. They developed a special femtosecond laser-based 3D printing process to produce customized hydrogel membranes directly within microfluidic chips, which are then populated with placenta cells. The researchers can use the chip to closely monitor biological parameters such as the pressure, temperature, geometry and nutrient supply of the mini-placenta and also test different drugs on the 3D printed tissue, observing the progression of diseases and the rate of cure.