A joint research team at CUK developed 3D printed implant for new drug delivery to treat acute liver failure

A joint research team with Professor Yoon Jun-won of Department of Biomedical Sciences and Professors Park Woo-ram, and Jeong Hyun-do of Department of Biomedical chemical Engineering developed an implant using 3D printing for new drug delivery to treat acute liver failure. The research finding graced the cover of the July issue of the “Advanced Healthcare Materials,” a prestigious international academic journal in the biomedical field.

The 3D printed implant for new drug delivery developed by Professors Yoon Jun-won, Park Woo-ram, and Jeong Hyun-do laid the foundation for a more simple and effective treatment of acute liver failure in one operation. This new drug delivery implant utilizes the 3D printing technology to continuously replenish the drug based on the form of the damaged tissue. The greatest advantage to this implant is that it is implanted in just one operation. The implant, comprising a reservoir that comes in contact with the damaged liver tissue and delivers the drug and the injection port connected to the reservoir, can continuously replenish the liver regeneration drug through the port. The effects of liver regeneration and improved liver somatic index have been verified from animal experiments where the drug was injected with the new implant for drug delivery.