A Miniature Model of a Beating Human Heart

Study in a Sentence: Researchers engineered human heart tissue with functional valves that replicate cardiac pumping in a model that can be used to study organ function in the lab and test new treatments for heart disease.

Healthy for Humans: In vitro models that use human cell-derived cardiac tissue can replicate important biological and mechanical features of the human heart, enabling researchers to better understand diseases and develop novel drugs for treating them.

Redefining Research: Previous efforts to fabricate functioning cardiac valves in these models have been successful, but they have been limited by their relatively large scale. This miniature model, called the miniPUMP, uses a high-precision bioprinting technology to replicate whole-organ function with less biological material, allowing for scaled up research and testing capabilities.