Auxilium Bioprints Kidney and Liver Tissue in Space for the First Time

Gravity Was the Problem

Bioprinting on Earth struggles with one unavoidable fact: gravity pulls cells and bioink down before structures can form properly. That is why Auxilium Biotechnologies sent its AMP-1 orbital bioprinter to the International Space Station in 2024. The latest mission expanded that effort from medical implants to tissue manufacturing, and the results are now back on Earth.

What They Printed

Auxilium successfully bioprinted both kidney and liver tissue aboard the ISS. This marks the first time either tissue type has been manufactured in orbit. The company is a clinical-stage biotechnology firm based in California, and the work builds on its earlier success with medical implants in microgravity.

The bioprinted samples returned to Earth in June. Researchers will now evaluate how the space-printed tissue compares to Earth-based controls. The lack of gravitational settling in orbit allows cells to arrange themselves into more authentic tissue structures than is possible in a lab on the ground.

Why It Matters

If bioprinted tissues can be produced reliably in space, the technology could eventually lead to whole organs for transplant. Kidney disease affects millions of people worldwide, and the gap between those who need transplants and available donor organs continues to grow. Liver failure carries a similar burden.

The ISS experiment does not solve that gap overnight. It does, however, prove that the microgravity environment can produce tissue types that are notoriously difficult to print on Earth. That is a meaningful step toward the larger goal of functional organ printing.

Next Steps

Auxilium has not disclosed a timeline for human trials or full organ printing. The company will spend the coming months analyzing the returned tissue samples. Regenerative medicine researchers are watching closely: if the space-printed tissue shows better cell viability or structure than Earth-printed equivalents, more funding and missions will likely follow.

Space is becoming a serious platform for biotechnology, not just physics experiments. This result adds to a growing list of manufacturing processes that work better off planet.