Hello Reddit! We’re Monica Moya and Elizabeth Wheeler from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and we’re using 3D bioprinting techniques and special “bioink” to manufacture human-compatible tissues vascularized with self-assembling vessels and capillaries. We’ve engineered the printed tissue with human cells so that they grow toward nutrients, harvesting the ability of the human body to respond and develop complex vascular networks. This effort is part of a larger research project aimed at replicating the human body on a miniature scale, what we’re calling iCHIP (in vitro Chip-based Human Investigational Platform). It includes research into recreating the central and peripheral nervous systems, the blood-brain barrier, and the heart. This is seriously a new frontier in biology. If we’re successful, iCHIP could be used to develop new countermeasures against biological agents without having to use human subjects. But in order to get the various systems to work together properly, the “human on a chip” will need adequate plumbing. It’s like a house with all these separate rooms, and we’re the plumbers. We’re really excited about the work, and we’re here to talk about it. Ask us anything! We will be back at 1 pm EST (10 am PST, 6 pm UTC) to answer your questions. Update, 9:45am PST Hey we are just joining you now! Excited to see other geeking out with us about our science! We will start answering questions shortly! Thanks everyone! Update, 10:05am PST Here’s an article about our work: https://www.llnl.gov/news/researchers-3d-print-living-blood-vessels. It includes an animation that shows how the bioprinted vessels self-assemble vascular networks. Update, 12:15pm PST Thanks everyone for the great questions! Wish we could have answered all 300+ questions but we have to get back to the lab and continue our exciting work! Thanks again! Super exciting that our AMA made it to the front page of Reddit! Monica Moya’s biography: Monica L. Moya is a Research Engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Center for Micro and Nano Technology. She earned a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2009. Her current research centers around using 3D printing to print living vascular structures for neural systems and tissue engineering applications. Select publications: http://www.pubfacts.com/author/Monica+L+Moya. Elizabeth Wheeler’s biography: Elizabeth Wheeler is a chemical engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a principal investigator for iCHIP, the In-vitro based Human Investigational Platform. She has expertise in medical engineering, microfluidics and bioinstrumentation. Select publications: http://www.pubfacts.com/author/Elizabeth+K+Wheeler.