One could say: “None”, and will be wrong. Because the scientists continue their experiments in the area of medicine and 3D-printed organs. This time, the scientists from the Northwestern University of the U.S. have managed to 3D-print ovaries and to implant them successfully in mice. Nobody was hurt, and the mice have managed to breed successfully.

The produced ovaries are a spherical “scaffold” made from the gelatin—a protein derived from keratin—the most abundant, according to the scientists, scaffolding material found naturally in human bodies. Than, the researchers inserted oestrogen-producing cells and the oocytes (tiny structures, which eventually mature into eggs) in the ovaries. As the gelatin scaffold itself is a tissue with pores, the nutrients from the bloodstream would flow through to help the eggs grow.

The scientists foresee the technology once help women infertile by different reasons (e.g. earlier menopause, genetic diseases or after cancer treatment) to restore fertility, but caution that the success in mice doesn’t mean the technology will definitely work in humans. To identify side-effects the researchers are now planning to proceed studies in pigs.