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The Source: The Movement Of Printing New Tissue And Organs

Courtesy of UTSA

It was on December 23, 1954 that the first successful human organ transplant took place. It happened at Brigham Hospital in Boston - a kidney was transplanted between two identical twins. 

Since that time organ transplants have become almost common place - and they would be even more common and routine except we don't have enough donor organs to go around.

Today there are over 80 thousand people on the kidney transplant waiting list. But what if suddenly there was an inexhaustible supply of donor kidney's with a near zero chance of body rejection?
 

That's the promise of 3-D organ printing. This is revolutionary and it's the cutting edge for regenerative medicine. And now UTSA now has a 3-D organ printer and is part of this new age of medical development.

Guest:

  • Teja Guda, assistant professor of Biomedical Engineering and director for the Center of Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship 
David Martin Davies can be reached at dmdavies@tpr.org and on Twitter at @DavidMartinDavi