A team at the University of Sydney has developed ultra-precise 3D-printed blood vessels that mimic both the anatomy and fluid dynamics of human arteries, offering a new, patient-specific window into how stroke-causing blood clots form. The technology, created by researchers in the School of Biomedical Engineering, delivers real-time insights that could transform how cardiovascular diseases are detected, studied, and treated.
Cardiovascular disease remains Australia’s leading cause of death, claiming a life every 12 minutes. Yet predicting early events that lead to carotid-artery clots, a major cause of stroke, has remained out of reach. According to PhD candidate Charles Zhao, who led much of the work, that gap is finally beginning to close. “We’re not just printing blood vessels, we’re printing hope for millions at risk of stroke worldwide,” he says. The research was published in Advanced Materials.
A more human-centred model
Using CT scans from stroke patients as blueprints, the researchers created microscopic replicas of both healthy and diseased carotid arteries. These ‘arteries on glass’, printed directly onto slides using a novel, fast, and highly accurate method, measure just 200 to 300 micrometers across. Despite this tiny scale, they retain the full complexity of vascular structures, including subtle dents and irregularities seen in damaged arterial walls.
Replacing slow, error-prone resin molds with glass-based printing reduced production time from 10 hours to just two. Under the microscope, the printed vessels resemble delicate engravings, but when blood flows through them, they behave strikingly like the real thing.
Watching blood clots form in real time
The team observed how platelets responded to different flow conditions inside the printed arteries. High stress on vessel walls, commonly caused by hypertension or atherosclerosis, led to seven-to-ten-fold increases in platelet activity, a precursor to clot formation. For clinicians who race against a 12-hour diagnostic window during stroke events, such insights could be transformative.
“No two patients are biologically identical,” explains Zhao. “Vascular structures, blood viscosity and clotting behaviour vary widely, and today’s tools don’t account for that. Our platform finally allows patient-specific testing without the need for animal experiments.”
Toward digital twins for stroke prediction
The printed vessels function as “physical twins” of a patient’s arteries. The next step, says postdoctoral digital scientist Helen Zhao, is to combine them with artificial intelligence. “By merging AI with our biofabrication platform, we can create true digital twins, models that not only replicate a patient’s blood vessels but also predict stroke events before they happen.”
In the future, clinicians could upload a CT scan, print a personalised artery model within hours, run blood-flow tests, and use AI-powered simulations to forecast stroke risk years in advance. A shift from reactive care to proactive prevention may be closer than ever.
3D printing with bioink
Last year, researchers at the University of Twente (Netherlands) developed a new programmable bioink that could significantly advance the creation of vascularized, 3D-printed tissues. Their work, published in Advanced Healthcare Materials, enables precise control over how tiny blood vessels grow and organize within printed constructs. This was an essential breakthrough for building functional tissues and future artificial organs.
Until now, engineers could position vessels during printing, but once placed in culture or transplanted, the vessels often reorganized unpredictably, reducing tissue viability. The new bioink solves this by incorporating aptamers, short DNA sequences that can be programmed to bind and release growth signals on demand. This system mimics the body’s own mechanism for storing and releasing biochemical cues, enabling dynamic, “4D” control over vascular development.
By pairing this bioink with extrusion-based bioprinting, the researchers can now steer blood vessel formation over time in a controlled environment. According to lead investigators Jeroen Rouwkema and Deepti Rana, the technology marks a key step toward engineered tissues that behave like real, living organs.
