3d Bioface

What is the problem?

Patients who are born without ears, or who lose them later in life, have limited options. They can wear a plastic prosthetic, which needs fitted and replaced every year, or have surgery to remove cartilage from elsewhere on their body to reconstruct the missing body part. This is painful and invasive, and can cause further scarring.

What are the researchers doing?

Scientists in the 3D Bioface lab are developing new techniques to ‘print’ ears from a patient’s own cells. The researchers have developed a unique type of ‘bio-ink’ which encourages cartilage – a type of tissue that makes up our ears and noses – to grow. Combined with cells from the patient, the scientists can 3D-print a scaffold the size and shape of the body part that’s missing.

Eventually, the patient’s cells will fill in the scaffold, leaving researchers with a custom ear or nose that can be surgically implanted into the patient. We hope this will be the new gold standard in facial reconstruction.

What difference will this research make?

Bringing this technology into a clinical setting will have a huge impact on the field of facial reconstruction.

The tissue sample needed to make the bio-ink is tiny, about the size of a hole punch. This means patients will not have to undergo invasive, painful surgery.

Ears and noses could also be customised to match the patient’s features, helping patients adapt to having an altered appearance.