Building Blocks: LEGO- like assembly of perfusable ECM cubes to generate tissue-agnostic, suturable, organ-sized, viable and functional grafts
Organ transplantation provides the best available treatment for a myriad of end-stage organ failures. However, shortages of organ donors due to stochastic availability, short shelf life, and potential for immune-incompatibility and infections are major limitations of present approaches. The goal of this research is to develop technology for fabrication of organ-scale tissue grafts built from 3D-printed modular functional cube-units. By establishing the feasibility of this technology to create a functional tissue graft, the proposed work could revolutionize the contemporary approach to organ transplantation by eliminating key barriers to accessibility. The long-term impact of this work will be to provide viable and on-demand patient-specific grafts for all end-stage organ failures.