Liver troubles? Soon you might just print off a new one

Organ donation might soon be a thing of the past. A team of scientists from the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say they're one step closer to creating a synthetic liver, having found a way to use 3D printing technology to build a "network" for blood vessels to grow into. The find, which overcomes some of the previous problems with creating manmade organs, could revolutionize organ transplants. "We tried to make a liver, so we surrounded [the network of blood vessels] with liver cells, but one could do it with any other tissue," said MIT's Professor Sangeeta Bhatia.