Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Printing Ears (Picture of the Day: 2/27/13)

Lawrence Bonassar holding the scaffolding for an ear. Source. Credit: Lindsay France

3-D printing is becoming a huge new scientific fad, and I dearly hope to see it continue. Scientists at Cornell have now figured out a way to print the scaffolding for an ear using a 3-D printer. The printer creates a special mold which is then filled with collagen from rats' tails before cow ear cartilage is added. Within three months cartilage will have grown fully throughout the mold and a fully formed ear will be left in its place. This is a truly remarkable feat, one that has been a long time coming. Hopefully we will see more "printable" organs that will allow us to meet all organ transplant needs.
To read more, check out this article.

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