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Harvard Researchers Print World's First Heart-On-A-Chip (gizmodo.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the integrated-sensing dept.

Harvard University researchers have successfully 3D printed the first heart-on-a-chip with integrated sensors that are capable of measuring the beating of the heart. Gizmodo reports: The printed organ is made of synthetic material designed to mimic the structure and function of native tissue. It is not designed to replace failing human organs, but it can be used for scientific studies, something that is expected to rapidly increase research on new medicine. The medical breakthrough may also allow scientists to rapidly design organs-on-chips to match specific disease properties or even a patient's cells. Organs-on-chips, also known by the more technical name microphysiological systems, replicate the structure and function of living human organs. Each is made of a translucent, flexible polymer that lets scientists replicate biological environments of living organs. The chips are also clear so that the scientists can see an inner-working into how the organs work. A large part of the breakthrough was actually developing six different printable inks capable of integrating sensors within the tissue being printed. In one continuous printing process, the team 3D printed materials into a heart-on-a-chip with integrated sensors. The sensors were capable of measuring the beating of the heart. The new study has been published today in Nature Materials.

20 comments

  1. No pictures! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How am I supposed to understand this without pictures when I don't even have a cyborg brain?

    1. Re:No pictures! by Provocateur · · Score: 1

      No cyborg brain? Check.

      His ex-wife? Let's try this again.

      No cyborg brain? Check.
      My ex-wife? Check.
      Pictures? Check; I burned them. Let's try this again

      No cyborg brain? Check.
      My ex-wife? No check.
      No pictures? Check. Two out of three ain't bad /Me checks e-bay for cyborg brains, even googles for images of one. In desperation, even checks newjersey.craigslist.org classifieds for used ones.

      Tiny cyborg brain gets easily distracted by the casual encounters section, titillated by the remote chance of a casual cyborg+human encounter. Is challenged by Must be 18 or older but floating point CPU allows cyborg to check any pictures out. The presence of pictures persuades him to preview the photographs of a transgender. At which point the tiny cyborg brain explodes

      --
      WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
  2. Heart on a chip -- by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    that measures the beating of a heart....??

    Huh..???

    1. Re:Heart on a chip -- by sittingnut · · Score: 2

      that measures the beating of a heart....??

      Huh..???

      your confusion is justified.
      it seems to be more an organic sensor than "heart on a chip".
      would help if editors here read the stuff before posting and get rid of irrelevant buzz words. that is what an editor supposed to do!

  3. Inability to distinguish an X from a model X by Hognoxious · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The inability to distinguish an X from a model X seems to be a common trait among hiplennials.

    Remember this: https://build.slashdot.org/sto...

    Or this: https://tech.slashdot.org/stor...

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:Inability to distinguish an X from a model X by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

      The inability to distinguish an X from a model X seems to be a common trait among hiplennials.

      It's sensationalist journalism is the cause of your frustration, so why disparage an entire generation of people who aren't even the ones charge of what's being published?

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    2. Re:Inability to distinguish an X from a model X by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      They are [in] charge, though.

      The square old daddies are so afraid of being seen as out of touch that they just let the millenitards run around doing whatever they want, which is why you get #DEDEDE text on a #F0F0F0 background[1] and icons that all look the same.

      [1] Of course the contrast is high enough, they don't have any letters in common!

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  4. Cardiomyocytes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hmm .. OK it has been known for like over a decade at least how to make heart tissue. In fact it took me a while to follow the known protocol properly enough where I would *not* to make beating heart muscle cells from fibroblasts (skin cells). That was a few years ago.

  5. Novel? by backslashdot · · Score: 4, Informative

    This isn't exactly new. Heart tissue is easy to grow and already used for disease modeling. Call me when they make something that is structurally a heart. We've had heart tissue in hydrogels and various other materials since the 1980s and heart tissue on sheets for maybe 20 years for drug testing. The novelty here is that it's on chip and optimal for drug testing?

    http://circres.ahajournals.org... [ahajournals.org]

    1. Re:Novel? by sheramil · · Score: 2

      the novelty here is that it could be TCP/IP enabled, which means unless it's properly secured it could be used as part of a botnet. no, that's not tachycardia you're feeling, it's very large PINGs.

  6. So basically there's hope... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ...for my bitch of an ex-wife to finally have a heart? Not that I'm bitter or anything.

    1. Re:So basically there's hope... by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      This could also be an ideal transplant organ for airline agents.

  7. Patent this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Printed heart with built-in pacemaker, nothing better than several layers of back-up.

  8. And yet they can't pay their workers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The cafeteria workers are in week 3 of their strike because they're losing their insurance.

  9. Really Tiny people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Heart-on-a-Chip"

    Hmm, must be for reallllly tiny people I guess. I actually find the summaries constant and odd use of that phrase to be confusing and seemingly inconsistent with what they seem to be describing. Sounds like they 3D printed some sort of artificial heart but what the heck does "on a chip" mean in that context?