{"id":375929,"date":"2026-04-12T13:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T13:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375929\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T13:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T13:18:09","slug":"israeli-researcher-advances-3d-bioprinting-toward-organ-transplants-opening-door-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375929\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli researcher advances 3D bioprinting toward organ transplants, ‘opening door to"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a laboratory at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, far from operating rooms and hospital wards, stands a machine that looks, at first glance, like a standard 3D printer. But a closer look reveals something far more remarkable.<\/p>\n

Instead of ink or plastic, its printheads are loaded with biological materials and living cells. Layer by layer, it constructs a tiny structure that mimics, incredibly, a human lung.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

3 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05d3"\u05e8<\/a>\"\u05d3"\u05e8<\/p>\n

Dr. Arbel Artzy-Schnirman <\/p>\n

(Photo: Rambam Health Care)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing. Skin is already yesterday\u2019s news. The lung is the new thing,\u201d said Dr. Arbel Artzy-Schnirman, head of the Center for Medical Application Technologies at Rambam, who leads the research.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love lungs. You have to see this,\u201d she added. \u201cRight now, in our incubator, we have a small vessel containing lung tissue that is functional. There are cells that secrete mucus and cells with hair-like structures that clear dirt and bacteria from the air, just like in a human lung.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted that researchers have succeeded in printing lung tissue with these cells, and even observing the movement of the tiny hair-like structures under a microscope. Still, she emphasized, this is only a fragment of a lung.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe surface area of a full human lung is the size of a tennis court. There is currently no technology, to the best of my knowledge, that can produce an entire lung,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The idea of producing parts of the human body in a lab may sound like science fiction, but it is already happening. While full organs such as hearts or kidneys are not yet within reach, Israeli researchers see their work as a meaningful step toward that goal.<\/p>\n

At Rambam, scientists are working to print human tissues using a patient\u2019s own cells, create disease models and test new drugs before they reach human trials.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

3 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05d3"\u05e8<\/a>\"\u05d3"\u05e8<\/p>\n

(Photo: Rambam Health Care)<\/p>\n

\u201cTo print tissues means understanding what a tissue looks like, how it is built, which cells it contains and what its properties are,\u201d Artzy-Schnirman explained. \u201cFrom there, we create a geometric structure in the lab that faithfully replicates the original tissue, both in shape and cellular composition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goal is functionality. \u201cWe want the tissue to behave like the real thing, so it can be used and truly reflect reality,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The process combines biological insight with engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like a home printer, but the concept is similar,\u201d she said. \u201cInstead of printing in two dimensions, we print layer by layer to create a three-dimensional structure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than ink, the printer uses biological substances that form human tissues, such as collagen, fibronectin and laminin. By combining multiple materials and cell types, researchers can recreate the complexity of human tissue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the human body, tissue isn\u2019t made of just one type of cell,\u201d she said. \u201cThe ability to print several materials and cells simultaneously allows us to build that complexity.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

3 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05e8\u05e7\u05de\u05d4<\/a>\"\u05e8\u05e7\u05de\u05d4<\/p>\n

Printed tissue with living cells growing in an incubator <\/p>\n

(Photo: Rambam Health Care )<\/p>\n

If the technology reaches its full potential, the implications are profound.<\/p>\n

Today, there is a severe shortage of organs for transplant, and patients often wait years. In the future, researchers hope it will be possible to take cells from a patient and print a personalized organ, eliminating the risk of immune rejection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be extraordinary,\u201d Artzy-Schnirman said. \u201cWe could also replace parts of organs. For example, after a heart attack, damaged tissue could be restored by printing new tissue. The same applies to burns, skin injuries and even long bones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such advances could be especially significant in Israel, where hospitals have treated large numbers of wounded patients in recent years, many with complex tissue and organ injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a real need,\u201d she said. \u201cMedicine often has to compromise. Tissue printing could open the door to much better solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, the most immediate applications lie in drug development.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest challenges in developing drugs is toxicity,\u201d Artzy-Schnirman said. \u201cA drug may solve one problem, but harm the liver or heart. There is currently no simple way to test this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bioprinting allows researchers to create human tissue models, such as liver or heart tissue, and test drugs on them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is already beginning to happen. It\u2019s a real revolution, something we are clearly starting to unlock,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The technology could also reduce reliance on animal testing. While it will not eliminate it entirely, printed human models may significantly lower the need for such experiments.<\/p>\n

Despite the progress, printing entire organs remains a major scientific challenge.<\/p>\n

Researchers must fully understand the structure of each organ, including its geometry and cellular composition, and develop technology capable of replicating it.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest hurdles is creating blood vessels within printed tissue. In the human body, every cell is supplied with oxygen and nutrients through nearby vessels. Replicating this system is essential for integrating printed tissue into the body.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a challenge that has not yet been fully solved,\u201d Artzy-Schnirman said. \u201cBut we are finding solutions that will continue to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, the breakthroughs are incremental.<\/p>\n

At Rambam, researchers are already printing skin tissue as part of a collaboration with the hospital\u2019s dermatology department. The goal is to study skin lesions and better predict which may become cancerous.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can print healthy skin tissue and introduce cells from a patient\u2019s lesion,\u201d she said. \u201cThis allows us to observe development in the lab, track changes and test responses to different treatments.\u201d<\/p>\n

It remains unclear when fully functional organs will become a reality. It could take a decade, two decades or longer.<\/p>\n

But for researchers working with bioprinters today, the direction is clear.<\/p>\n

Even if it begins with small pieces of tissue growing in an incubator, like many scientific breakthroughs, this transformation may start with something remarkably small.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a laboratory at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, far from operating rooms and hospital wards, stands a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[111,139,69,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-375929","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}