4 ms·
I’d be curious to know how they ensured the printed heart’s electrical circuits communicated properly. A normal functioning heart has its own pacemaker, sending
by drchiu 8y ago
I’d be curious to know how they ensured the printed heart’s electrical circuits communicated properly. A normal functioning heart has its own pacemaker, sending electrical signals in a coordinated manner. I suspect that this is what the researchers were alluding to when they said they’re trying to teach the heart to function. This might be the harder part of heart synthesis as it may require the promotion of specific cell to cell connections. Interesting development, which hopefully one day can fix a lot of medical pathologies.
- Tharkun 8y agoIf they can print a structurally complete heart -- even one without a working SA node -- they would probably be able to print working replacement valves. That would be huge news. Animal replacement valves don't last forever. Nor do artificial ones. Having a working replacement grown/printed would be incredibly valuable for lots of people.
- anitil 8y agoAs stated in the other thread about this [0], this is looks-like not works-like. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19665013 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19665013