Russian Scientists Intend To Produce Tissue By A 3D Printer On Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS) has received many kinds of biomedical research. For instance, the ISS got a 3D printer called Organ-Avt which has been used to produce biological tissue by scientists while in space.

Now, this 3D printer is set to be upgraded to produce more complicated kinds of tissue comprising of blood vessels and muscles, as per 3D Printing Industry. This boosts the advanced medical study to support deep space exploration.

3D Bioprinting Solutions, a Russian bio-technical research lab, will deliver necessary raw biomaterials to create prints of muscle tissues to the ISS in upcoming September.

This 3D printer makes it easier to produce organs in orbit than on the Earth in which they can easily collapse due to gravity. According to 3D Printing Industry, blood vessels, muscles, and many other complicated tissues which these Russian scientists schedule to produce will be kept in space for examination to serve the study of space travel effects on the human body in the long term.

For further information, 3D Bioprinting Solutions is under the management of Invitro, a Russia-based private medical business. It developed this 3D printer for manufacturing living tissues, and organs and send them to the ISS to let tissues and organs grow at faster rates. The printer was first scheduled to be sent to the ISS last October.

But the system was completely burnt after the failure of the launch of the Soyuz MS-10 flight. Then the company sent another one to the ISS on 3 December 2018. As per the scientists, the 3D printer has successfully manufactured the thyroid of a mouse so far.

It is known that 3D Bioprinting Solution is working with US-based and Israel-based labs to develop its study and continue experiments in manufacturing living organs and tissues in outer space. Some experiments have been carried out for the 3D printer on the ISS. The scientists also intend to upgrade the printer by 2020.