© Lindsay France/Cornell University PhotographyBio-Engin-Ear Lawrence Bonassar displays his 3-D printed ear.
Researchers at Cornell University have managed to fabricate a bioengineered human ear that looks and acts like a natural one. They hope to be able to give children with a rare congenital ear deformity a new, 3-D printed ear that's specifically tailored to fit them.
Children with microtia are born with a deformed or missing external ear, sometimes without even an ear opening. Although they can have a fully-formed inner ear, it's difficult for them to hear without the external structure to direct sound, to say nothing of the psychological impact of having a prominently visible deformity. Typically, treatment for microtia involves multiple surgeries over several months or years, often using cartilage from the child's ribcage.
There are many drawbacks to this approach, including a limited supply of
cartilage that can be taken and complications that occur at the site where it's harvested from. Scientists have long been looking for a way to engineer new tissue for reconstruction, but previous attempts at bioengineered ears lost their shape over time or the cells within them died.
Over three months of observation,
Cornell researchers found that their
3-D printed ear was more flexible and longer-lasting than other bioengineered ears. Using 3-D printing also would allow them to mimic the normal anatomy of the patient's ear, since children with microtia usually only have deformities on one side.