3D-printed testicles a potential breakthrough in stem cell therapy: researchers

Researchers are calling it a major breakthrough for men’s health.

University of British Columbia scientists have managed to 3D print human testicular cells with early signs of sperm-producing capabilities.

Dr. Ryan Flannigan, assistant professor of the Department of Urologic Sciences at UBC, says this could be the first step when it comes to treating male infertility.

#UBC researchers have #3D printed human testicular cells.
Thanks to @RyanFlannigan00 and his team, a solution for people living with presently untreatable forms of male infertility might be on its way.

Press the link to read more about ithttps://t.co/bG35hhMbLW#infertility

— Lab Skills Academy | Science News (@labskillacademy) March 21, 2022

“We know that the cells have to communicate with each other either in close proximity or through contact in order to facilitate a transition from a stem cell all the way from a sperm,” said Flannigan.

“So if we can use that 3D printer to get as close to this as possible then that probably puts us at the best chance of being able to help those stem cells develop into sperm.”

He says the next step is for his team to “coach” the cells into producing sperm, which could eventually be used to fertilize an egg via in-vitro fertilization.

It’s being hailed as a major breakthrough when it comes to treating male infertility.

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Flannigan explains how this development could be used.

“Fifteen per cent of couples can struggle with infertility and you know factors usually contribute to half of those cases. And then in about 15 percent of those basically there is a problem with sperm reduction and we can’t detect any sperm,” he said.

“Bringing in a regenerative type of therapy would be really exciting.”

It’s being called one of the first of its kind in the world.

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Flannigan says this could be used to help better understand and treat male infertility.

“On the discovery side of things with genomics and the understanding of what is going on both in normal sperm and spermatogenesis in the human body,” he said.

“But also what is going wrong leads to the inability to produce sperm. Once we have a better understanding of that we can hopefully merge these two lines of research together.”