--- title: 3-D Printed Ovaries Are Helping Mice to Get Pregnant description: A recent study by Northwestern University showed that mice were able to get pregnant with 3-D printed ovaries canonical: https://time.com/4782557/3d-printed-ovaries-pregnant-mice-study/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-17T17:41:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:58:28.859Z article:section: Science og:title: 3-D Printed Ovaries Are Helping Mice to Get Pregnant og:description: This could lead to advances in restoring fertility in women og:url: https://time.com/4782557/3d-printed-ovaries-pregnant-mice-study/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt204207d84c683205/6988cdb3656a3f74f2bd008c/gettyimages-3459989.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: mice-study-3d-printed-ovaries og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 3-D Printed Ovaries Are Helping Mice to Get Pregnant twitter:description: This could lead to advances in restoring fertility in women twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt204207d84c683205/6988cdb3656a3f74f2bd008c/gettyimages-3459989.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 3-D Printed Ovaries Are Helping Mice to Get Pregnant by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra May 17, 2017 5:41 PM UTC  TOKYO, JAPAN : Kaguya, the fatherless mouse at the Tokyo University of Agriculture lab in Tokyo on April 23, 2004 in Tokyo, Japan. Kaguya, a fatherless mouse created by a group of researchers chiefly from Japan and South Korea. They have succeeded in creating a fatherless mouse without sperm. (Photo by koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images) TOKYO, JAPAN : Kaguya, the fatherless mouse at the Tokyo University of Agriculture lab in Tokyo on April 23, 2004 in Tokyo, Japan. Kaguya, a fatherless mouse created by a group of researchers chiefly from Japan and South Korea. They have succeeded in creating a fatherless mouse without sperm. (Photo by koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images)Koichi Kamoshida—Getty by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra May 17, 2017 5:41 PM UTC A recent [study by Northwestern University](https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2017/may/3-d-printed-ovaries-offspring/) showed that mice were able to get pregnant with 3-D printed ovaries — a development that could help lead to advances in [restoring fertility](http://time.com/4765926/future-fertility-pregnancy/) and hormone production in women who have [survived cancer.](http://motto.time.com/4354935/breast-cancer-selfie-transgender-rights/) After replacing their ovaries with 3-D printed copies, the mice were able to ovulate, [give birth](http://time.com/4071889/toronto-zoo-panda-cubs/) and nurse their young, according to the study [published in _Nature Communications_](https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15261). “What happens with some of our cancer patients is that their ovaries don’t function at a high enough level and they need to use hormone replacement therapies in order to trigger puberty,” said Monica Laronda, a co-lead author of the study. The 3-D printed structures used in the study were able to fulfill their goal to restore fertility and hormone production in the mice. 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