REAL LIFE NEWS: 3D PRINTING CREATES NEW HUMAN CORNEAS
by Hazed
The cornea is the outermost layer of the eye, but it can get damaged in a number of ways – disease, burns, lacerations and so on – leading to blindness. The only remedy is corneal transplant, but there is a shortage of corneas available for transplantation.
So the news that human corneas have been produced by 3D printing is very exciting. It could mean that in the future there will be an unlimited supply of corneas for transplant.
Proof-of-concept research has been recently published, reporting that the scientists mixed stem cells from a healthy donor cornea with alginate and collagen, to produce a ‘bio-ink’ solution that could be printed.
A low-cost 3D bio-printer was used to extrude the bio-ink in concentric circles to form the shape of a human cornea, taking just ten minutes.
Che Connon, Professor of Tissue Engineering at Newcastle University, explained “Our unique gel – a combination of alginate and collagen – keeps the stem cells alive whilst producing a material which is stiff enough to hold its shape but soft enough to be squeezed out the nozzle of a 3D printer.
“This builds upon our previous work in which we kept cells alive for weeks at room temperature within a similar hydrogel. Now we have a ready to use bio-ink containing stem cells allowing users to start printing tissues without having to worry about growing the cells separately.”
This method of producing corneas means they can be tailored to the shape and dimensions of the recipient’s eye.
Now there will be several years of tests, but if all goes well, they could soon become available for transplants.
Source: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/latest/2018/05/first3dprintingofcorneas/
