3D-printed sugar network to help grow artificial liver

Researchers have moved a step closer to creating a synthetic liver, after a US team created a template for blood vessels to grow into, using sugar.

Scientists have long been experimenting with the 3D printing of cells and blood vessels, building up tissue structure layer by layer with artificial cells. But the synthetically engineered cells often die before the tissue is formed. The technology, in which a 3D printer uses sugar as its building material, could one day be used for transplants. The study appears in the journal Nature Materials.