Cornell University Researchers Use 3-D Printing to Grow an Ear

Cornell University scientists have been keeping an ear out for some new research they're conducting . Using a 3-D printer and injections of living cells, researchers showed it's possible to create a replacement ear.

Wednesday reported the first step toward actually growing customized new ears for children with malformed ones, or people who had lost one in an accident or to disease.

It's part of the hot field of tissue regeneration, trying to regrow all kinds of body parts. Scientists hope using 3-D printing technology might offer a speedier method with more lifelike results.

"This enables us to rapidly customize implants for whoever needs them," said Cornell biomedical engineer Lawrence Bonassar, who co-authored the research published online in the journal PLoS One, according to Yahoo! News. 

However, this kind of thing takes a lot of work and great detail. The first step, according to reports, entails crafting a human-shaped ear that grew with the cartilage from a cow. Study co-author Dr. Jason Spector of Weill Cornell Medical Center is working to help and cultivate the remaining ear cartilage from a child's ear in the lab to grow an entirely new ear.

Today, those that need a new ear often turn to prosthetics which are fastened to the head and can look unnatural.

But thanks to the Cornell team, they started with a 3-D camera that rapidly rotates around a child's head for a picture of the existing ear to match. It beams the ear's geometry into a computer, without the mess of a traditional mold or the radiation if CT scans were used to measure ear anatomy.

"Kids aren't afraid of it," said Bonassar, who used his then-5-year-old twin daughters' healthy ears as models.

From that image, the 3-D printer produced a soft mold of the ear. Bonassar injected it with a special collagen gel that's full of cow cells that produce cartilage - forming a scaffolding. Over the next few weeks, cartilage grew to replace the collagen. At three months, it appeared to be a flexible and workable outer ear, the study concluded.