Russian startup prints live tissue in space

Skolkovo resident company 3D Bioprinting Solutions has become the first company to use a 3D printer to create live tissue in space, printing an organ construct for the thyroid gland of a mouse on board the International Space Station (ISS) this month.

The experiment was carried out by Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko in the Russian sector of the ISS: the first experiment of its kind in printing live tissue and micro-organs in space. The aim of the experiment is both to forward the drive to create human donor organs using a 3D printer, which is facilitated by a lack of gravity, and to study the effect of radiation on the human body with a view to long-distance space travel.