Keira McGrath, DEKA
37 million Americans are living with Chronic Kidney Disease - that’s 1 in 7 people
In 2016, 726,331 Americans had kidney failure and needed dialysis or a kidney transplant to survive
Last year, 100,000 Americans were waiting for a kidney transplant, but only 21,167 received one - just 21% of patients received a life-saving kidney
12 people die every day while waiting for a kidney transplant
What’s it like to live with kidney failure? Shari waited for seven years to get a transplant. During that entire time, she received dialysis treatments three days a week to keep her alive.
Even though printing on-demand kidneys is still a few years away, the 3D printed kidney tissue has another vital use right now: testing new drugs.
Instead of testing on living people or animals, pharmaceutical companies can use the living tissue created through biofabrication to see if new medicines can help treat diseases such as kidney disease.