This breakthrough could end the need for animal drug testing for organ donation and for acquiring embryonic stem cells.

Before this successful procedure, which was developed in partnership with Roslin Cellab and developed by Dr. Will Shu and his colleagues at Heriot-Watt University's Biomedical Microengineering group, 2D cells which are tougher than human cells, were all that could be produced by printing.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that these cells have been 3D printed. The technique will allow us to create more accurate human tissue models which are essential to in vitro drug development and toxicity-testing," says Dr. Shu.

This is exciting news as it could provide doctors with an infinite amount of transplant organs, and could kiss drug testing on animals goodbye.