A large number of animals die every year in laboratories, many killed testing medicines and cosmetics. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology are looking for alternatives. They are developing a method to produce human or animal tissue in a 3D printer.

The starting material is a special gelatin-based organic ink which nurtures living cells. The printed bio-ink can be given the properties of different natural tissues - from firm cartilage to soft fatty tissue. Once enriched with human or animal cells it could become a material that makes animal experiments unnecessary in the future.