News

Building Toward a Kidney

Building Toward a Kidney

January 1, 2017
Lewis’s work using 3-D printing technology to fabricate human tissues—“bioprinting,” she calls it—is increasingly important in the emerging field of tissue engineering, a science whose ultimate aspiration is to build three-dimensional tissues and entire organs that can repair or replace a patient’s damaged liver, or heart—or kidney.
Medicine: An End to Animal Testing?

Medicine: An End to Animal Testing?

December 25, 2016
The first-ever fully 3D-printed “heart-on-a-chip” was developed by Harvard researchers this year, offering a synthetic alternative for the living tissue that is currently used in animal testing.
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The Promise of Printing

December 8, 2016
Machines that deposit cell-laden inks are constructing tissues and organs, one layer at a time.
Meet the World’s First Completely Soft Robot

Meet the World’s First Completely Soft Robot

December 8, 2016
The “octobot” is a squishy little robot that fits in the palm of your hand and looks like something in a goody bag from a child’s birthday party. But despite its quirky name and diminutive size, this bot represents an astonishing advance in robotics.
3-D Printer Builds Heart-on-a-Chip Device

3-D Printer Builds Heart-on-a-Chip Device

October 26, 2016
Harvard University researchers may be one step closer to replacing lab rats with lab-grown organ tissue thanks to inky chemistry and three-dimensional printing.
Octobot

Meet Octobot: Squishy, Adorable, and Revolutionary

August 26, 2016

Hello, Octobot.

This squishy eight-armed machine is the world’s first fully autonomous soft-bodied robot. Researchers at Harvard University created the octopus by three-dimensional printing, using silicone gel, which gives it its flexible, rubbery texture. More...

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