3D-Printed Ear Grown in Mice Could One Day Help Humans
From: Bioscience Technology - 03/17/2016

Bioengineers at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine have taken a
large step, ten years in the making, toward functional 3D bioprinted tissue.

The team, led by Anthony Atala, MD, successfully printed an ear, along with
bone and muscle structures using what they call the Integrated Tissue and
Organ Printing System (ITOP). When implanted beneath the skin of mice and
rats, the living tissue not only retained its shape over several months, but
grew and developed a system of blood vessels.

In addition to the ear, the team showed muscle tissue, implanted in rats, was
strong enough to became vascularized and induce nerve formation after two
weeks.  They also printed jaw bone fragments using human stem cells that were
the size of a human. The bioprinted bone was implanted in rats and was
vascularized five months after implantation.

The study received funding from the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative
Medicine.

The team hopes that in the future similar results will happen in humans, but
for now ongoing studies will measure the long-term success of this effort.
The findings may one day lead to implants that help heal injured noses, ears
and knees.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.biosciencetechnology.com/news/2016/03/3d-printed-ear-grown-mice-could-one-day-help-humans

Links:
Anthony Atala
http://www.wakehealth.edu/Research/WFIRM/Anthony-Atala,-MD,-Director-and-Chair.htm

Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine
http://www.wakehealth.edu/wfirm

Printing a human kidney (TED Talk - 16:47)
https://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_atala_printing_a_human_kidney?language=en

Growing new organs (TED Talk - 17:45)
https://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_atala_growing_organs_engineering_tissue?language=en