Using cells instead of ink in Kidney Printer

Surgeon Anthony Atala demonstrates an early-stage experiment that could someday solve the organ-donor problem: a 3D printer that uses living cells instead of ink to produce kidneys. Stem cells were one of the discoveries that changed the practice of medicine. They can be harvested from the amniotic fluid of pregnant women. Dr. Atala's young patient Luke Massella received an engineered bladder 10 years ago.

Anthony Atala is the director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, where his work focuses on growing and regenerating tissues and organs. His team engineered the first lab-grown organ to be implanted into a human - a bladder - and is developing experimental fabrication technology that can "print" human tissue on demand.