S03E09 - 🚑 Custom Printed Organs

If you're lucky enough to receive an organ transplant there's no guarantee that your body will accept the donation which means a lifetime of anti-rejection medication. However researchers are working on technology to enable organs to be printed on-demand using your own cells.

Ever since organ transplants first occurred in the 1950s there's been a supply shortage which currently results in around 20 deaths per day just in the United States. Even if you're lucky enough to receive a transplant there's no guarantee that your body will accept the donation which means a lifetime of anti-rejection medication. However researchers are working on technology to enable organs to be printed on-demand using cells from the transplant recipient.

Rice University Organ Research & Video: https://news.rice.edu/2019/05/02/organ-bioprinting-gets-a-breath-of-fresh-air-2/

CREDITS

This episode of Moonshot was hosted and edited by Kristofor Lawson (@kristoforlawson).

Research and scripting by Jasmine Mee Lee.

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

And our cover artwork is by Andrew Millist.

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