A 3D-Printed Heart Ventricle Beats Like the Real Thing

A new fiber-infused ink aligns the synthetic cells in the ventricle and ensures that when they're electrically stimulated, they set off a rolling contraction.

By Matt Hrodey
Aug 2, 2023 6:00 PM
Fake heart
Harvard's 3D-printed ventricle. (Credit: Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)

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The heart is a complex organ with a simple purpose – pump blood in and pump it out again.

It does this through an interconnected network of rectangular heart cells called cardiomyocytes that pump blood into the top of the heart (through the atria) and out through the ventricles at the bottom. Pacemaker cells on the heart keep it ticking away at 60 to 100 beats per minute, depending on the person’s basal heart rate.

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