3D-Printed Membrane Could Enable Smaller, More Efficient Artificial Lungs

For patients with advanced lung disease, durable respiratory support is limited and donor organs are scarce. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) can bridge failure, but current oxygenator membranes create turbulent flow and promote clotting, which restricts duration of use and device size. These limitations complicate critical care and transplant pathways. To overcome these constraints, researchers have developed a 3D-printed membrane architecture that aims to boost gas exchange while enabling more compact artificial lungs.

Hannover Medical School, working within the Lower Saxony Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Implant Research and Development, is developing a biohybrid lung platform grounded in ECMO principles. The team’s innovation is a triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) membrane that replaces conventional hollow‑fiber bundles. The approach is intended to increase oxygen transfer while reducing device footprint.

The TPMS architecture forms a continuous three‑dimensional network that distributes blood more evenly than parallel hollow fibers. By minimizing regions of low flow and reducing flow resistance, it improves conditions for gas exchange. Its geometry resembles the high‑surface‑area packing of natural alveoli, and it can be fabricated and customized with modern 3D printing.

In preclinical evaluation, optimized TPMS designs achieved up to 88% higher oxygen transfer compared with hollow‑fiber membranes. Results were reported in Advanced Materials and reflect a collaboration between Hannover Medical School and RWTH Aachen University as part of the German Research Foundation’s “Towards an implantable Lung” program. The developers note that the method could also make conventional ECMO systems more efficient and compact.

The membrane is produced from a specialized silicone polymer that is biocompatible, nontoxic, chemically stable, and highly permeable to oxygen and carbon dioxide. The surface can be colonized by endothelial cells, which may enhance hemocompatibility. Longer term, the team aims to use computed tomography (CT) scans of damaged lungs as templates for patient‑specific artificial lung segments or entire lungs, seeded with a patient’s own or genetically modified endothelial cells for permanent implantation.

“So far, we have only been able to use ECMO to support lung function for a limited time because the blood forms clots on contact with the artificial surfaces,” said Bettina Wiegmann, emergency medicine specialist and consultant in cardiac surgery at the Clinical Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplant and Vascular Surgery, Hannover Medical School.

“We have optimized the TPMS architectures. As a result, we achieve up to 88% higher oxygen transfer than with conventional hollow-fiber membranes. This means that, in the future, the same or even a better oxygen supply could be possible with significantly smaller artificial lungs,” said Wiegmann.

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