| Aug 08, 2013 | |
Researchers 'grow' new cartilage with help of 3D printer |
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| (Nanowerk News) A partnership between scientists at the University of Wollongong and St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne has led to a breakthrough in tissue engineering, with researchers growing cartilage from stem cells to treat cancers, osteoarthritis and traumatic injury. | |
| In work led by Associate Professor Damian Myers of St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne – a node of the UOW-headquartered Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) – scaffolds fabricated on 3D printing equipment were used to grow cartilage over a 28-day period from stem cells that were extracted from tissue under the knee cap. | |
| Professor Myers said this was the first time true cartilage had been grown, as compared to "fibrocartilage", which does not work long-term. | |
| “We are trying to create a tissue environment that can ‘self-repair’ over many years, meaning the repaired site will not deteriorate,” he said. | |
| "It's very exciting work, and we've done the hard yards to show that what we have cultured is what we want for use in surgery for cartilage repair.” | |
| ACES Director Professor Gordon Wallace and his team developed customised fabrication equipment to deliver live cells inside a printed 3D structure. This cutting edge technology was utilised to deliver 3D printed scaffolds on which the cartilage was grown. | |
| “ACES has established a biomedical 3D printing lab at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne in April this year. This has greatly accelerated progress by bringing clinicians and materials scientists face to face on a daily basis,” Professor Wallace said. | |
| This research, which will soon move to pre-clinical trials to demonstrate repair of cartilage, is part of a wider limb regeneration project, involving Professor Wallace, Professor Mark Cook and Professor Peter Choong through the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery. The aim is to eventually use a patient’s own stem cells to grow muscles, fat, bone and tendons. | |
| Professor Wallace and his team are also working to develop custom-made 3D printed human organs. | |
| “By 2025, it is feasible that we will be able to fabricate complete functional organs, tailored for an individual patient,” he said. |
| Source: University of Wollongong | |
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