Six students at the School of Engineering at UConn have created two different types of 3D printed artificial kidney prototypes. The kidneys each use different filtering technologies. The students used 3D printing for its ability to allow them to create complex shapes and parts for their devices. The kidneys were shown off at the Schools Senior Design Demonstration day a couple of weeks back. This is certainly a unique approach to 3D printing when compared with the other bioprinting options which may one day create a kidney. More details can be found here: http://3dprint.com/3617/3d-printed-artificial-kidneys/

Here is a picture of one of the two kidney designs, created with AutoCAD software, and later 3d printed out: