Development of a 3D-Bioextrusion-Printer for growing individualized heart-muscle-tissue to treat failing heart syndrome (Indiheart)

Within this interdisciplinary project, a manufacturing process for growing individualized heart-muscle implants for failing heart syndrome therapy is being developed in close cooperation with the University Medical Center Göttingen (director: Prof. Dr. med. Wolfram-Hubertus Zimmermann), the Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (director: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Eberhardt Bodenschatz), as well as the German Primate Center (director: Prof. Dr. med. vet. Rabea Hinkel). The force created by the artificial heart-muscle patch is supposed to restore sufficient blood-pumping abilities. At the imes, the research is focused on the development of a robot-based, fully sterilizable 3D-bioextrusion-printer and its controls. Main milestone within the current phase of the project is the automation of the printing process, to ensure precision and quality of the artificial heart-muscle-tissue.