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Alternatively
surgeons may sometimes build ears from a patent's harvested rib, but this
option is challenging and painful for children, and the ears rarely look
natural or perform well, said Dr Spector. New hope: Professor Lawrence Bonassar
and colleagues collaborated with Weill Cornell Medical College physicians to
create an artificial ear using 3D printing and inject-able molds 'This is such
a win-win for both medicine and basic science, demonstrating what we can
achieve when we work together,' said study author Lawrence Bonassar, associate
professor of biomedical engineering.
The novel ear may be the solution surgeons
have long wished for to help children born with ear deformity, said co-author
Dr Jason Spector, professor of plastic surgery at Weill Cornell Medical
College. A bionic hand which allows the
recipient to feel ‘lifelike’ sensations is to be transplanted on to a patient’s
arm for the first time. Until
now, artificial limbs have been able to pick up brain signals destined for the
absent hand and translate them into movements, but they could not give sensory
feedback. The new hand, which is attached directly to the nervous system via
electrodes clipped on to two of the arm’s main nerves, aims to restore a sense
of touch in amputees. The electrodes will allow the recipient to control the
hand using just their thoughts – and will also send signals back to the brain.
Scientists hope the breakthrough will pave the way for a new generation
of artificial limbs that more closely imitate real body parts by providing
feeling and increased dexterity. This Cornell-developed, high-density
gel is similar to the consistency of jelly when the mould is removed. The
collagen serves as a scaffold upon which cartilage could grow.

Professor Bonassar
added.'It takes half a day to design the mould, a day or so to print it, 30
minutes to inject the gel, and we can remove the ear 15 minutes later,' he
said. 'We trim the ear and then let it culture for several days in nourishing
cell culture media before it is implanted. 'The new process offers hope to
thousands of children born with a congenital deformity called microtia.
The
incidence of microtia, which is when the external ear is not fully developed,
varies from almost 1 to more than 4 per 10,000 births each year. Many children
born with microtia have an intact inner ear, but experience hearing loss due to
the missing external structure. Dr Spector and Professor Bonassar have been
collaborating on bio engineered human replacement parts since 2007.Professor
Bonassar has also worked with Weill Cornell neurological surgeon Dr Roger Härtl
on bio engineered disc replacements using some of the same techniques.
The
researchers specifically work on replacement human structures that are
primarily made of cartilage – joints, trachea, spine, nose – because cartilage
does not need to be vascularised with a blood supply in order to survive. 'Using
human cells, specifically those from the same patient, would reduce any
possibility of rejection,' Dr Spector said. He added that the best time to
implant a bio engineered ear on a child would be when they are about five or six
years old. At that age, ears are 80 per cent of their adult size.If all safety
and efficacy trials prove successful, it might be possible to try the first
human implant of a Cornell bioengineering ear in as little as three years, Dr
Spector said.


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