Could Bioprinted Liver Tissue Become an Alternative to Transplants?

A research team at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh received $28.5 million in funding from ARPA-H to carry out the LIVE (Liver Immunocompetent Volumetric Engineering) Project. The goal? To manufacture functional liver tissue for patients with acute liver failure using 3D bioprinting.

The liver is one of the most resilient organs of the human body. It’s capable of replacing its cells in response to acute and chronic injuries, something known as “liver regeneration.” Current literature tells us that liver regeneration is achieved through various means, such as liver cell activation or metabolic reprogramming. However, these solutions do not always work for everyone. The LIVE Project was created to address this major public health challenge.

3D bioprinted liver tissue using FRESH technology (photo credit: Carnegie Mellon University).

The LIVE Project does not seek to create a permanent organ right away, but rather a temporary liver tissue that gives the organ time to regenerate. The team, led by Dr. Adam Feinberg, will use two technologies developed at the university. First, there’s FRESH (Freeform Reversible Embedding of Suspended Hydrogels) technology. This is a bioprinting technique that allows soft bioinks, such as collagen, to be extruded into a thermoreversible support hydrogel. This prevents the structures from collapsing under their own weight, allowing complex and precise vascular architectures to be created with structural proteins and human cells.