ArticlePLoS biology2014
The billion cell construct: will three-dimensional printing get us there?
Article in PLoS biology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Meta-analysis of the make-up and properties of in vitro models of the healthy and diseased blood-brain barrier.Nature biomedical engineering · 2025Pooled it
- A 3D-Printed Vascular-Like Perfusion Tumor-on-a-Chip Recapitulates High-Grade Breast Cancer With in Vivo-Relevant Drug Resistance.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Article
- Topological Tracks Patterned via 3D Printing Vascularize Murine Organ-Scale Constructs.Cell biomaterials · 2026Article
- 3D Printing for Neural Repair: Bridging the Gap in Regenerative Medicine.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2025Article
- Machine learning-assisted stiffness prediction in high-cell-density bioprinting.Bio-design and manufacturing · 2025Article
- Three-dimensional bio-derived materials for biomedical applications: challenges and opportunities.RSC advances · 2025Review
- Extrusion bioprinting: meeting the promise of human tissue biofabrication?Progress in biomedical engineering (Bristol, England) · 2025Review
- Bridging the Gap: Advances and Challenges in Heart Regeneration from In Vitro to In Vivo Applications.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Coaxial 3D Bioprinting Process Research and Performance Tests on Vascular Scaffolds.Micromachines · 2024Article
- A dive into the bath: embedded 3D bioprinting of freeformBiomaterials science · 2023Review
- Large-Scale Production of Wholly Cellular Bioinks via the Optimization of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Aggregate Culture in Automated Bioreactors.Advanced healthcare materials · 2022Article
- Advances in three-dimensional bioprinted stem cell-based tissue engineering for cardiovascular regeneration.Journal of molecular and cellular cardiology · 2022Review
- A sound approach to advancing healthcare systems: the future of biomedical acoustics.Nature communications · 2022Review
- Review
- Biomanufacturing human tissues via organ building blocks.Cell stem cell · 2022Review
- Engineering the niche to differentiate and deploy cardiovascular cells.Current opinion in biotechnology · 2022Review
- Scaffolding Biomaterials for 3D Cultivated Meat: Prospects and Challenges.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2022Review
- A review on 3D printing functional brain model.Biomicrofluidics · 2022Review
- Perfusion and endothelialization of engineered tissues with patterned vascular networks.Nature protocols · 2021Article
- Three-dimensional Printing in Orthopaedic Surgery: Current Applications and Future Developments.Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
How structure relates to function--across spatial scales, from the single molecule to the whole organism--is a central theme in biology. Bioengineers, however, wrestle with the converse question: will function follow form? That is, we struggle to approximate the architecture of living tissues experimentally, hoping that the structure we create will lead to the function we desire. A new means to explore the relationship between form and function in living tissue has arrived with three-dimensional printing, but the technology is not without limitations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.