answer from yahoo
Thanks to whoever piggybacked this to yahoo, and boiler for the answer!
No vasculization-OK
Is it still only 8 layers thick, and does this mean 8 cells, liver cells, thick?
thanks
btw I kinda started to hate Minger for his dismissile? of ONVO,
but maybe he was just rushed, heh.
Unless, of course, GE is the one behind the 16 million short position,
a hundred million dollars worth, of shorting behind the crushing of
ONVO.
I kinda hate whoever is behind this.
boilerupvic
Well technically he isn't wrong. I'll try to explain this in laymen terms. Most bioprinting uses a scaffolding or hydrogel approach. Organovo does drop cells into a dish, but they do it in specific patterns with incredible accuracy in X,Y and Z. When dropping different cells in conjunction with one another they naturally form specific shapes and sizes. This method (to my knowledge) most closely resembles human anatomy and tissue density. The trouble comes with building out a vascular network to increase the thickness of the tissue. This is a problem that literally everyone in bioprinting has.
There are multiple studies utilizing different angles to try to tackle this problem each showing promises in different areas. Some use hydro-gels, luckily for Onvo, they can also use hydro-gels when needed (it just isn't necessary for any of their commercial products at the moment or in the pipeline).
The important thing here is that currently no one has an answer for this problem. Organovo has products already in the pipeline that will generate revenue as they continue R&D. In addition to this, they have great scientific advisors, partnerships and collaboration with universities.
Dr. Stephen Minger comes off extremely dismissive and downplays a promising technology. It seemed like he was trying to hurry his talk along, but in the process failed to clarify why everyone is trying to work together to solve this problem. We don't know if/when will be able to print working vasculature, but we're making great progress and that's enough for me.
