China makes world's first 3D blood vessel bio-printer

A Chinese biotechnological company announced that it has developed the world's first 3D blood vessel bio-printer, which makes it possible to produce personalised functional organs, the media reported on Monday.

Sichuan Revotek Co. Ltd., based in Chengdu, on Sunday said the significant breakthrough has been achieved through its self-developed stem cell bio-ink technology, 3D bio-printer and cloud computing platform, the China Daily reported.

"The creative breakthrough in the 3D blood vessel bio-printing means we have mastered the stem cell-based 3D bio-printing technology," said Yang Keng, the company chairman said.

Blood vessels that transport nutrients to organs are indispensable elements when creating any organs, according to James Kang, an expert who led the programme.

Kang's team has created a novel type of bio-ink - "Biosynsphere", whose primary goal is the personalised stem cell bio-printing to pave the way for organ regeneration.

"We have successfully realized the blood vessel regeneration by relying on the 3D bio-printer, the biosynsphere technology and the data model based on cloud computing," he said.