Organovo has just made their human tissue 3D printing technology available to the public. Dubbed the exVive3D, the 3D printer capable of printing out human liver tissue is now available to researchers that want to test their drugs and chemicals. The printer itself, Organovo claims, eliminate the need to grow human tissues in vivo—that is, the tissues are "grown" in laboratory settings using things such as tests tubes and petri dishes. "Organovo's 3D human tissues offer many advantages over standard cell-culture platforms due to the fact that three-dimensionality is achieved without dependence on biomaterial or scaffold components that would not be found in native tissues," writes the company in a press release.

Furthermore, the printer also generates layers that contain multiple cell types, which enables the 3D-printed tissue to mimic many functions that were only once achievable via vivo-like tissues. The Organovo liver tissues contain primary human hepatocytes, stellate, and endothelial cells found in real people. As far as viability go, the 3D-printed tissues are functional and stable for 42 days. Unfortunately for garage scientists, the exVive3D printer is offered as a service-only product, meaning Organovo will house and handle all the tissue printing by their tissue experts and within their lab. This will purportedly allow the company to have control over the entire process from printing all the way down to data management.