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work eventually causes highly functioning units to slowly deteriorate as well.
Valves can also cause the heart to fail if they become thickened or stiffened.
3D printed artiicial heart valve
Someday 3D printed heart valves may provide a solution. Jonathan Butcher
is a professor at Cornell University and one of the leading researchers in the
ield of bioengineering artiicial heart valves. I visited Jonathan in Cornell's
bio-engineering department which is housed in a brand new white marble
building. Inside, icy stone loors amplify the echo of footsteps. Otherwise the
atmosphere is hushed. The reception area's oversized boxy atrium that greets
visitors feels too large, dwaring the puny humans inside.
Jonathan's ofice was a respite from its stark, echoing environment. Two col-
orful oil paintings warmed the ofice, a gift from an undergraduate in one of
Jonathan's classes. “She oil-painted some of the heart organs she isolated from
chick embryos at different stages of development,” Jonathan told me. I asked him
to explain the challenge of today's artiicial heart valves. He said, “Today surgeons
replace heart valves in one of two ways: mechanical heart valves or valves har-
vested from a cow or pig that are cleaned and cured like a soft piece of leather.”.
Currently available valves—both mechanical ones or valves taken from
an animal—suffer from serious drawbacks. The upside of a mechanical heart
