Billionaire investor Peter Thiel's philanthropic foundation
plans to announce today a six-figure grant for bioprinted meat,
part of an ambitious plan to bring to the world's dinner tables
a set of technologies originally developed for creating medical-
grade tissues. Vascular systems -- i.e., networks of blood
vessels -- are like highways for the delivery of nutrients and
removal of waste; without them, cells die quickly. The ability
to bioengineer new vasculature is a crucial step toward creating
new replacement organs such as livers or kidneys from a
patient's own cells. Bioengineers are already working on
creating and assembling single layers of cells that have direct
access to nutrients and oxygen -- a process known as
"bioprinting." But creating a full-fledged array of new vessels
remains a major hurdle. Fluidic pressure coursing through these
tiny systems … Read more A new technology early in clinical
trials could make it possible for doctors to use specialized 3D
printers to fabricate new human tissue b