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First Ever 3D Printed Thyroid Gland Announced by Russia’s 3D Bioprinting Solutions
The advancements seen within the field of 3D bioprinting are simply staggering. With numerous companies spending millions of dollars on advancing such technologies, we are in the early stages of what may be one of the most important medical revolutions of our time. With 3D printed human organs promising to one day eliminate the lengthy organ transplant waiting lists, perhaps saving hundreds of thousands of lives each year, these advances can not come soon enough.
Back in November we covered a story about a Skolkovo, Russia-based company called 3D Bioprinting Solutions. At the time, the company, which is headed up by Vladimir Mironov, made headlines,promising to have a 3D printed thyroid gland of a mouse by March of this year.
Here we are at the end of March, and the company has seemingly come through, holding a major press conference in Russia yesterday to announce their achievement. On March 12 the first ever thyroid gland for an animal — a mouse — was printed using the company’s patented bioprinting process. The goal here was to print a thyroid gland which could then be transplanted into a living mouse in order to further evaluate its capabilities.
The transplantation is expected to take place very soon, with researchers choosing to implant the organ into a mouse suffering from hypothyroidism, a condition which is caused by an excess of iodine in the body. Once implanted, they will evaluate the condition of the mouse and release the results of the study to the general public at the Second International Congress on Bioprinting in Singapore on July 9-10.
Researchers working for 3D Bioprinting Solutions chose the thyroid because of its simplicity. With that said, thyroid cancer is the 16th most commonly diagnosed form of cancer on the planet, with close to 300,000 new diagnoses in 2012 alone. Additionally, millions more suffer from other thyroid disorders, meaning that the ability to print a thyroid gland on demand could have major positive implications for an extraordinary number of individuals.
The printer used to construct the thyroid, works by using stem cells taken from the living orgasm via its fat cells. It then mixes these cells with a hydrogel, placing them down via an extruder, layer-by-layer. Once the cells take shape, the hydrogel dissolves, leaving the organ. The rejection of the organ should be minimal according to Mironov because it is created from the organism’s own stem cells. In essence, their body indirectly created the organ with the help of the 3D printer.
3D Bioprinting Solutions eventually wants to also 3D print other organs, especially the kidney. In fact, they claim that they are on pace to do so by 2018.
“The one who will be the first to print and then successfully transplant the kidney to the patient, who will stay alive, will for sure get a Nobel prize,” explained Mironov.
It will be interesting to see the results of the first animal trials in July, as well as if the company can remain on track to print out an actual kidney by 2018. Let’s hear your thoughts on this research in the3D Printed Thyroid forum thread on 3DPB.com. Check out the video below (in Russian) describing the process used to 3D print this thyroid gland.
Source: http://3dprint.com/54159/3d-printed-thyroid-mouse/
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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