1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

Medical Technology -- Blood Vessels from the 3D Printer

02:53

This browser does not support the video element.

September 16, 2013

Scientists from five Fraunhofer Institutes have developed a method to produce artificial blood vessels in a laboratory -- using a 3D printer! Wafer-thin layers of organic ink are printed on top of one another, creating three-dimensional tubes with the properties of blood vessels.

Before they're ready to be implanted, they must first be coated with proteins, to make it easy for living body cells to dock there.

Skip next section DW's Top Story

DW's Top Story

Skip next section More stories from DW