What Is It?

     Many tissues in the body are made so that they can twist, bend, or fold in various ways. Scientists have found a way to replicate this tissue, and have it fold into bowls, coils, and ripples.

How Is It Made?

     To make this tissue, researches started with plugs of cells, which came from a connective tissue in mouse embryos. This tissue is called the mesenchyme. Mesenchyme contains cell layers that either stretch or pinch together. These cell layers, when working together, can cause the tissue to fold inwards. The researches created sets of cell plugs in a dish, filled with a gel containing fibers from the extracellular matrix. The extracellular matrix is naturally made by bodily cells. This whole process was carried out using a 3D printer.

Results

     Since the scientists knew which way each set of cells would fold and bend, they caused the whole array of tissue to fold into a plethora of preprogrammed shapes, shown in the picture below.

Future Applications

     These researches want to use this cellular engineering to help humans. They can do this by creating natural tissues and organs, to replace them in people who have lost them due to age or disease.