3-D Printing Could Fix Infertility in the Near Future

Researchers have finally found success in their journey towards finding a cure for women infertility with the help of 3-D printing. As 3-D printing becomes more popular and advanced, scientists have been able to print internal organs. Researchers practiced their studies on female mice that had infertility issues; with the help of 3-D printed synthetic ovaries, the mice were able to reproduce offspring again. As a Health Policy major, this new innovation is eye opening and life changing to the medical field; it opens up a range of opportunities for doctors, surgeons, and nurses. These opportunities will have the ability to save lives and create pathways to more inventions that will revolutionize medical discoveries.

In continuation, the synthetic ovaries printed for the female mice were formed from gelatin. It is crazy to think that that the same thing we use to make Jell-O can also help us cure the epidemic of ovary failure. The gelatin was formed by printing multiple copies of it, scientists then overlapped each printed gelatin which then made “scaffolds” on the sides of the filaments. These scaffolds were important for ovary production because this is where the researchers insert mouse follicles, which contain growing eggs and hormones. Scientists then removed the non-working ovaries and replace them with the ovaries that they made through a 3-D printer. Most people are puzzled about the thought of gelatin being able to withstand life in a human body. However, the body registers gelatin as a natural material therefore blood can flow through it.

After the female mice had received the surgical implantation of the 3-D printed ovary, scientists allowed them to mate with male mice. The end conclusion of this experiment proved that three of their mice were able to get pregnant and give birth to healthy baby mice. This experiment has opened doors with 3-D printing and the medical field; it means bright things for the future. This can lead to higher fertility rates in women, something that our generation has had struggle producing. Typically a woman will take in large doses of unhealthy hormones, which are not guaranteed to work and often have side effects that make one think twice about taking hormones in the first place. Not only can this discovery and invention help regular women with fertility issues, it can also help women or children that suffer from a cancer that destroys or disrupts the functions of a typical ovary. Scientist has reached an ultimate peak that can cure many of the illnesses people suffer from today. This invention can lead to more similar inventions like 3-D printed bones, hearts, arteries, and so much more.

Citations:

Aodha, Gráinne Ní. “Infertility Problems in Mice Solved with 3D-Printed Ovaries.” TheJournal.ie, Journal Media, 17 May 2017, www.thejournal.ie/infertility-3d-printing-3393481-May2017/.

 

 

 

 

11 thoughts on “3-D Printing Could Fix Infertility in the Near Future

  1. I think this could definitely be something we see happen in hospitals around the nation. Something like this would make a significant difference in peoples lives around the world. This directly relates back to almost everything we talk about in class, as in making peoples lives easier, including things we talk about such as self driving cars, the internet of things, or drone delivery systems. I believe if we as society are more open to more technological advancements we will continue to see positive impacts like we do with this. The article I have attached talks about 5 ways 3D printing is affecting the medical field specifically, and one of them is printing for organs and blood vessels which closely relates to this post about 3D printing ovaries.
    https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/manufacturing-design/top-5-ways-3d-printing-changing-medical-field

  2. It is truly amazing to see how far the levels of 3D printing have come. Before I thought it was used to make simple inanimate objects like a cup holder or a stool, but to hear this type of news and physically see the progress is mindblowing. It’s so nice to be able to resort to a quicker, more efficient way to solve infertility with a 3D printer than just injecting hormonal shots and hoping things will work out. After reading that creating 3D printed ovaries was a way to cure ovarian cancer, I questioned if we’d eventually find a way to 3D print other organs, to completely knock out other types of organ cancers. I was able to come across this article, https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/25/implantable-3d-printed-organs-could-be-coming-sooner-than-you-think/ , that says we’re not too far off from implantable 3D printed organs. This will be a huge victory if everything progresses as expected. However, I worry about what will happen if the human body rejects the 3D printed organs. I think that is a major factor to consider and could cause a few setbacks.

  3. The 3-D printing of synthetic ovaries for infertile women is an amazing example of how innovative technology is making the world a better place. Technology in the medical field plays a crucial part to why our medical care is so outstanding. Through researching what the future of 3D bioprinting holds, the most impressive organ that is promised to be operational to print is the heart. Most of organ printing is in the early stages of development; however, 3D bioprinting success has been shown in skin and bones already. The heart is considered one of the most promising of the organs to print due to the fact that there is no complex biochemical reaction necessary. BioLife4D, a biotech startup, hopes to produce miniature synthetic hearts in order to test on small animals within the next year! The process for printing a heart starts with a digital render of the heart using an MRI machine. Next, using a blood sample, they crate a hydrogel mixture used as the bioink. Then the bioink is printed in layers on a biodegradable scaffold. In a few days, the hearts cells join and the heart begins to beat! This is just one of the amazing innovative ways technology is impacting our lives for the better!

    https://all3dp.com/2/5-most-promising-3d-printed-organs-for-transplant/

  4. I am surprised to see that 3D printing can be used for fixing infertility. It is hard to imagine how this would happen several years ago. After searching on the Internet, I find that ovary is not the only organ can be transplanted by 3D bioprinting. 3D biopringint is the process that we use bioink (tissue or human cells) to print organs. For the early stage of development in 3D bioprinting, skin and bone have gained the great success. Besides, kidney, liver, heart, cornea transplanting by 3D printing are also in the progress. Since the researchers have successfully fixed the infertility in mouse, it would be excited to apply this technology to human.
    Resource – https://all3dp.com/2/5-most-promising-3d-printed-organs-for-transplant/

  5. I think this could be one of the next huge things that we has a society can produce. This would cause so many tragic discoverys, one that an associate of my family has, to become just a small hurdle to get over. One question that I have though is how genteiclaly similar would the babies be? Could you 3D print the ovaries to a specific detail to produce “designer babies” a term more familiar to Crispr? (link to crispr and designer babies https://www.vox.com/2018/5/23/17364590/designer-dna-babies-gene-editing-crispr-explained) If it is then we’ll have the same ethical questions that stay unanswered because they are so hard to figure out because no one can determine who has that typeof power to almost act like a god.

  6. With all the new ideas arising with 3D printing, I am not surprised that a solution like this is becoming possible. Although I am a man, I can see how this could make the lives better for women out there. I would hate to be in the position where my wife would love to have children yet she physically can’t. I couldn’t even imaging the stress and upset this could have on a women’s life. Now that I have expressed my thoughts on this advancement, I have some concerns of how this could impact someone on a larger aspect. Sure there have been studies using mice as test subjects, but who is to say this will work for the majority of the population who want this procedure done. There aren’t any known problems that I understand but we will not know of them until the procedure has evolved to humans. Overall I believe this is a great opportunity not only for this one use but to expand to all types of organs and issues that could arise within them. I am not surprised at that this advancement has been successful and I for sure don’t doubt it will expand over its lifetime.

  7. It’s amazing to see how far technology has come that it has reached a point where it is able to alter one of the abilities of humans: reproduction. While this was a success in the mentioned article, I am curious to see the longevity of the implanted ovary, as in how long these 3-D printed ovaries can function. I am also curious about replacement techniques for the ovary in case the implanted ovary ceased to function. Another concern I would have is the sterilization methods needed to keep the synthetic ovary from being infected. Human organs have self-sterilization methods already in place naturally, but I am curious as how a synthetic ovary would self-sterilize or what sterilization techniques would be needed to prevent the body from rejecting the organ.

    Extrapolating from the information in what’s given in the article, this technology could also probably implemented in larger organ transplants. The benefit of using a 3-D Printer is the ability to produce very precise products, which is especially useful for organs, since every organ is different and tailored towards that specific person. I think in cases for organ donations when a donor cannot be matched, 3-D printed organs can be useful as it could provide the person in need with the exact requirements that needed. This could also be useful in developing countries, where finding a matched organ donor can be extremely difficult, so having such technology available could save numerous lives.

    Check out this article which explores more about the application of 3-D printed organs:
    https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2018/10/25/united-therapeutics-advances-organ-manufacturing.html

  8. The future of 3D Printing is so exciting. Although I am not necessarily sure on the ethical aspect of being able to print out synthetic human ovaries, the ability to do something like this is extremely promising. I do know, however, that ovaries are not the only human organ being experimented with. 3D printers now have the ability to take cells from a patient and print out completely new organs, like liver tissue – as someone mentioned, so that a patient would not even need to wait for an organ donor. On top of that, organs are not even the limit for 3D printers. Today, we have the ability to print things like automobiles, rocket engines, food, and even houses. And while all of that seems exciting and cool, the ability to print stuff like this is extremely important for modern society. For example, being able to 3D print a house is extremely efficient. In fact, houses can be printed within a single day, and only cost about $4,000 to fund; And this technology is just at its beginning. It’s so exciting to think about the possibilities of 3D printing 10, 20, and even 50 years from right now and who it has the potential to help.
    Source 1: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2013/10/08/what-can-3d-printing-do-here-are-6-creative-examples/#781723e55491
    Source 2: https://all3dp.com/1/3d-printed-food-3d-printing-food/
    Source 3: https://singularityhub.com/2018/03/18/this-3d-printed-house-goes-up-in-a-day-for-under-10000/#sm.000ibuw41125bdggxim2resmznxmh

  9. It is absolutely astonishing that a technology like 3D printing can create synthetic internal organs that mimic their functions, especially through the use of gelatin. A big question that is posed through this topic is, will we see this being implemented in our lifetime and to what extent can we take this? According to Tim Lewis and his article titled “Could 3D printing solve the organ transplant shortage?”, he is very confident in the use of 3D printed organs to become relevant within our lifetime. There are may obstacles that the adoption of this technology has and will face such as ethics, price and overall attitude towards something as far out as this may seem. Like most, this use of technology will start out small such as 3D printed cartilage that is predicted to be seen within the next 10 years. There are many possibilities when it comes to 3D printing, and I am excited to see what comes of this breakthrough.
    Link to article: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/30/will-3d-printing-solve-the-organ-transplant-shortage

  10. I found this entry very interesting as 3D printing has become such a broad tool of the future. 3D printing organs actually dates back at least 10 years. From 2008-2011 the amount of scientific research papers referencing it had tripled (link to article: https://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-07/how-3-d-printing-body-parts-will-revolutionize-medicine). The factors that are pushing this to happen as fast as we are now seeing it are refined CAD software, more technologically advanced 3D printing methods, and advances in the field of regenerative medicine. I find it very exciting to see how quickly technology is propelling us forward and this serves to be another example of it. I foresee very soon issues such as donor waiting lists will be a thing of the past, as synthetic organs become a commercial product and more mainstream.

  11. I’m very interested to see where this innovation goes and how it will progress! That being said, could this also mean extending a woman’s fertility past menopause? Could this also be used for Ovarian Cancer patients to reproduce after remission? I think this is just the tip of the iceberg for what 3D printing and, specifically, gelatin can do for the human body (since it registers it as an organic material). I think it would be fascinating to see how this could grow to maybe a larger organ transplants! In March of 2018, Financial Times posted an article about a 3D printed Liver where the process entails taking cells from organ donors to make a printable bio-link then layers of cells are placed carefully to create liver tissue (link to article: https://www.ft.com/content/67e3ab88-f56f-11e7-a4c9-bbdefa4f210b). I think that in the next ten years this could be an integral part of modern medicine!

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