ORGANS MADE TO ORDER

Celprogren Inc., founded in 2002 by molecular biologist Dr. Jay Sharma, is a stem-cell
research and therapeutics company. With the help of new 3D-printing technology,
Celprogen is now using its expertise to engineer human organs.
BY PAUL PENZELLA, SANDY MAZZA, BRAD GRAVERSON | THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP

NATIONAL ORGAN DONATION AT A GLANCE

The wait list for organ transplants in the U.S. has doubled in the last decade
and the availability of organs hasnt kept up with demand.

22

119,637

Men, women, and children die each day on

average while waiting
for an organ transplant

Top states with the largest number of people on

the wait list for an organ or tissue transplant

People are currently on the

national waiting list
for an organ transplant.
The average wait for a heart
transplant is 4 months.
For a kidney, its 5 years.

23,307

California
Texas
New York

12,554
9,995

The heart is a very unique organ because

its a pump. It was a challenge I took on
myself to see if this is really something that
can be achieved. If we can do a heart, we
can do any other organ.
Dr. Jay Sharma, Celprogen Inc.

ORGAN CREATION AT CELPROGEN

Researchers have made big advances in recent years building human organs outside the body
using animal and synthetic models. Although the research has yet to go through FDA approval,
Dr. Jay Sharmas Torrance stem-cell research company, Celprogen, this year built a heart and
pancreas using scaffolds seeded with engineered human cells. Here is how they did it:

Step 2: Seeding
Under the microscope a smart syringe is used to carefully
seed the finished flexible, biodegradable frame with cardiac
stem cells. Eventually, a 3D printer will seed the cells into
the mesh scaffold it built. Sharma gets the stem cells from
local patients.

Step 1: Scaffold printing

A 3D printer crafts the human heart frame,
or scaffold, from a cornstarch-based polylactic acid.

Step 3: Incubation
Each heart is incubated at body temperature for 45 to 90 days.
The incubation time determines the organs size.

Step 4: Organ maturation

The finished heart is the size of an
olive or small mouse. It pumps when
flushed with nutrients through a
pulmonary artery.

3D-PRINTINGS CONTRIBUTION TO BIOENGINEERING

3D-printed organ replicas are commonly used by

surgeons to practice complex operations before
putting patients under the knife. Its resulted in
shorter surgeries and better outcomes.
Sources: Celprogen Inc., LifeCenter Organ Donor Network;
United Network for Organ Sharing

3D bioprinting, using cells as ink, has already

been used to make and transplant skin, bone,
cartilaginous structures and heart tissue. Now,
biologists are experimenting with ways to
3D-print more complex organs for drug testing
and transplants.

The only manufactured organ to be successfully

transplanted so far is skin. Researchers are
struggling with replicating tiny blood vessel
structures, nerves and complex groups of
different cells working together.