Creating vascular networks to sustain 3D printed organs is becoming possible

The generative design studio Nervous System has collaborated on new 3D printed organ research and has just made the cover of Science Magazine. The studio has always worked at the intersection of science, art and technology. Three fields that have a deep relationship. In fact, they use computer simulation to generate designs from nature that they then produce through digital fabrication. They reveal on their blog that for the past three years they have been working with Jordan Miller, a bioengineer at Rice University on creating vascular networks for 3D printed organs. The work, published in Science Magazine, was led by Jordan Miller at Rice and Kelly Stevens at the University of Washington; it also included collaboration from 13 others.

Science, 03 May 2019: Vol. 364, Issue 6439, pp. 458-464 | Credits: Science Magazine

The partnership started in 2016, Jordan Miller was captivated by Nervous System’s ‘growing objects’ exhibit that showcased a series of branching sculptures. The skills needed to create such structures could be applied to a completely different field, Nervous System explains, “He [Jordan Miller] proposed that our skills could be put to an epic task: ‘Perhaps we could work together to make open-source software that the world could use to design synthetic living tissues and organ replacements for human patients’ ”. The idea was born to use the studio’s generative design capabilities to make living things.

The hyphae crispata 1 from the ‘Growing Objects’ exhibition that inspired Jordan Miller | Credits: Nervous System

The design studio explains that while there are many labs creating artificial tissues, the problem is keeping them alive. The issue is feeding the billions of cells that need support from intricate vascular networks. These provide nutrients and oxygen whilst removing waste and without them the artificial tissues soon die. Taking this into account, Nervous System seeks to create software that will enable scientists to design customised multi-vascular structures for 3D printed organs. For the first time, the design studio in collaboration with the Miller Lab successfully designed and created complex multi-vascular networks that were materialised in soft hydrogels.