ARPA-H awards teams set to bioprint universally matched organs on demand 

PRINT program to eliminate chronic organ shortages, lengthy wait lists, and lifelong medications 

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), today announced the research and development teams receiving awards from its Personalized Regenerative Immunocompetent Nanotechnology Tissue (PRINT) program. PRINT will use state-of-the-art bioprinting technology and a regenerative medicine approach to 3D-print personalized, on-demand human organs that do not require immunosuppressive drugs. The goal is to use either a patient’s own cells or cells from a biobank to quickly – within hours – produce immune-matched replacement organs, such as kidneys, hearts, and livers. 

Right now, many people wait years for an organ transplant, and some never receive one. Every year, thousands of patients in the United States die while waiting. Shortages are driven by many factors, including where a patient lives, the need to closely match blood types, and low donation rates. Even when patients do get a transplant, organs usually last only 15-23 years and require a lifetime of drugs to prevent rejection, which are expensive and can cause serious health problems.  

“Developing universally matched organs has never been done before in the history of transplantation. Printing a precisely matched, functional human organ will fundamentally change what is possible in transplant medicine and will save countless lives,” said Alicia Jackson, Ph.D., ARPA-H Director. “Through the PRINT program, ARPA-H will strengthen U.S. leadership at the frontiers of biotechnology and biomedical innovation.” 

PRINT teams will need to achieve what has to date been impossible in tissue engineering: 3D print a human-sized organ, with all the cells, blood vessels, and tissue materials that allow it to function as a heart, filter blood and produce urine as a kidney, and uphold metabolism as a liver. If successful, the technical advances and platform technologies generated by PRINT will have a tremendous impact on guiding the regeneration of other challenging organs, such as the pancreas and lungs. The PRINT program total is up to $176.8 million over 5 years. Performer awards (not procurement contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements) vary in funding amount per awardee and are contingent upon each team meeting aggressive and accelerated milestones.  

“What we are trying to do with PRINT is extraordinarily hard. It requires major breakthroughs in cell manufacturing, bioreactor design, and 3D printing technology to reliably build organs that function like the real thing,” said PRINT Program Manager Ryan Spitler, Ph.D. “But if we succeed, we won’t just be giving patients faster access to new organs—we will change the foundation of transplantation itself. The advances from this program could dramatically reduce wait times, eliminate the need for lifelong immunosuppressive drugs, and open the door to bioprinted solutions for many other organs in the future.” 

Performer teams are led by:  

• Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh aims to create a cost-effective immune-silent bioprinted liver that is ready for first-in-human trials in five years. The team will produce human-sized and functional bioprinted livers, initially for acute liver failure with the long-term goal to address all liver failure. 
• Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., seeks to produce clinical grade vascularized renal tissue to augment renal function in patients suffering from kidney disease. This tissue therapy will be validated using preclinical trials in parallel with a commercialization plan to make it a cost-efficient solution to the nation’s growing donor organ shortage. 
• Wyss Institute in Boston intends to overcome the current tissue fabrication challenges by engineering universal, clinical-scale liver tissue from adult stem cells. The implantable tissue will continue to develop to benefit patients with liver dysfunction. 
• University of California, San Diego, aims to develop a scalable, patient-specific, bioprinted liver using adult stem cells. This liver will be tailored to an individual's unique anatomy and physiology, without the need for donor tissue or immunosuppressants, ensuring long-term functionality and integration. 
• University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas intends to develop a transplantation-ready liver capable of providing full function in patients with liver failure. This approach involves reconnecting blood vessels to restore blood flow and establishing a bile duct system for fluid transport.  

For more on PRINT, visit the program page.