This is an update to the previous blog, Makerbot 3D Printing + Tissue Engineering: Create Cartilage to Repair Windpipe Damage.
A llving windpipe segment is created: Image extracted from video below.
The following video presents MakerBot Stories | Feinstein Institute for Medical Research from MakerBot on Vimeo:
A team of surgeons and scientists at the Feinstein Institute of Medical Research, the research branch of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, has grown cartilage on a 3D printed scaffolding, pointing the way to custom repairs for damaged and diseased tracheas, or windpipes. The cells grow on a scaffolding created from ordinary MakerBot PLA Filament on a MakerBot Replicator 2X Experimental 3D Printer. “3D printing and tissue engineering have the potential to replace lots of different parts of the human body,” says Dr. Lee Smith, a pediatric otolargyngologist who participated in the research. “The potential for creating replacement parts is almost limitless.”
