Jameco Challenge: What The Heck Is It? |
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The object below is developed with cutting edge technology and is designed to potentially replace something that virtually all of us have. What the heck is it?
This is a replacement ear for humans, created in a lab using a 3-D printer and cow cells.
Researchers at Cornell University hope this experiment in tissue regeneration will soon become the medical practice of custom ear implants for children with birth defects and people who lose an ear in an accident.
How did they do it? The medical team used a 3-D camera to take photos of the good ear and the dimensions are loaded into a computer. With the same kind of 3-D printer used in other industries, they produced a soft mold and filled it with a collagen gel containing cow cells that stimulate the growth of cartilage.
The next challenge is to be able to grow enough of a patient's own cartilage-growing cells to be used directly in the 3-D printing process.
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