Model, Vascular Tree

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It has been able to spend time at the museum on loan from Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

The ability to embed vascular networks into bioprinted human tissues is essential for applications ranging from disease modeling to regenerative medicine. To efficiently deliver oxygen and nutrients, a pervasive network of vascular channels is needed such that all cells in the surrounding tissue are within a distance less than 1 millimeter away from any given blood vessel. Jennifer Lewis and her research team at the Wyss Institute have pioneered a method for fabricating vascularized human tissues via 3D bioprinting. Specifically, her team has developed multiple 3D printable bio-inks that enable one to directly print cells, extracellular matrices (which provide a supporting scaffold for the printed cells), and embedded vascular networks within these biofabricated human tissues. The display shown here is approximately 100 times larger than the vascular features typically printed in her lab. This large-scale model highlights the branching, oxygen-rich arterial (red) and oxygen-depleted venous (blue) capillaries that are present within these bioprinted human tissues (not shown).