An artificial ear, pictured, that looks and works just like an outer human ear has been built by scientists using a 3D printer and cartilage from sheep . An artificial - and very lifelike - ear has been built by scientists using a 3D printer and cartilage from sheep. The organ was designed by plastic surgeons to make it look as likelike as possible. Researchers from Massachusetts then grew the required number of cartilage cells to fit custom models under the skin of lab rats. Wire was added to the moulds to give the implants their shape and make them bend and flex like human ears. Scientists are now preparing the ear for clinical trials in the hope they could be used in transplant operations. As the technology is customisable, the . scientists claim they could eventually use the process to produce . realistic looking ears for individual patients on a 'rapid timescale.' The ears were built by Thomas Cervantes, from Massachusetts General Hospital, and his colleagues. A 3D digital model was created . and designed with help from a facial plastic surgeon to make sure the . shape and proportions were correct. The . resulting model was printed and cast in polydimethylsiloxane, a special . silicone compound, to create a mould which was then split along the . outer contour, resulting in two pieces. These moulds were filled with cow collagen, the naturally occurring protein that gives skin elasticity and strength. Researchers then harvested ear cartilage cells from sheep. The researchers from Massachusetts worked with a plastic surgeon to create the 3D mould. It was filled with cow collagen while the team grew enough cartilage cells inside rats to replace the collagen in the mould. Wires were then added to help maintain the shape of the ears . Scientists . at Princeton University have created a breakthrough bionic ear that can . 'hear' radio frequencies beyond the range of normal human ears. The researchers used a radical 3D printing technique to create the ear with the electronics of a hearing aid inside it. They . say it is a major step towards creating 'cybermen' such as those seen . in the Terminator films, which combine living cells and electronic . circuits. Earlier this . year, doctors from Cornell University used 3D printing to create a . prosthetic ear using cells of cartilage, similar to the ones created in . Massachusetts. A solid plastic mould was printed and then filled with high-density collagen gel. The researchers then added cartilage cells into the collagen matrix. For . the prototype, they used cells taken from cows, but could in theory use . cells of cartilage from elsewhere in the patient's body. These cells were implanted under the skin of lab rats and the team then spent three months growing enough cartilage inside the rats to replace the cow collagen used in the moulds. The . researchers said that the modelled ear had enough definition in the . curves and lines to be recognisable even once a layer of skin had been . applied to it. 'All the implants were well tolerated,' said Cervantes. 'The implants with wire resembled a human ear, whereas implants without wire were flattened and distorted. 'The surfaces of both were white, glistening and grossly resembled cartilage. 'The constructs with the embedded wire framework had significantly improved size and shape fidelity, compared with those without the framework. The implants were flexible.' The same team previously carried out a proof of concept study on mice using cartilage cells in an ear-shaped collagen mould, but this was only analysed in 2D. The researchers said: 'The technology is now under development for clinical trials, and thus we have scaled up and redesigned the prominent features of the scaffold to match the size of an adult human ear and to preserve the aesthetic appearance after implantation. 'We also employed more rigorous methods to analyse the fidelity of the ear geometry after implantation.' They added: 'These quantitative shape analysis results have identified opportunities to improve shape fidelity of engineered ear constructs.' Each year thousands of children are born with a congenital deformity called microtia, when the external ear is not fully developed. Many have an intact inner ear, but experience hearing loss due to the missing external structure. The findings feature in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. Once the cartilage in the mould had fused and set, researchers put the ear through various stress tests to analyse its flexibility. A layer of skin was also applied to make the ear look more lifelike .
Researchers created the artificial ear by 3D printing a life-like mould .
This mould was filled with cow collagen and sheep cartilage cells .
Cells were implanted into rats and grown over a three-month period .
An artificial ear, pictured, that looks and works just like an outer human ear has been built by scientists using a 3D printer and cartilage from sheep . An artificial - and very lifelike - ear has been built by scientists using a 3D printer and cartilage from sheep. The organ was designed by plastic surgeons to make it look as likelike as possible. Researchers from Massachusetts then grew the required number of cartilage cells to fit custom models under the skin of lab rats. Wire was added to the moulds to give the implants their shape and make them bend and flex like human ears. Scientists are now preparing the ear for clinical trials in the hope they could be used in transplant operations. As the technology is customisable, the . scientists claim they could eventually use the process to produce . realistic looking ears for individual patients on a 'rapid timescale.' The ears were built by Thomas Cervantes, from Massachusetts General Hospital, and his colleagues. A 3D digital model was created . and designed with help from a facial plastic surgeon to make sure the . shape and proportions were correct. The . resulting model was printed and cast in polydimethylsiloxane, a special . silicone compound, to create a mould which was then split along the . outer contour, resulting in two pieces. These moulds were filled with cow collagen, the naturally occurring protein that gives skin elasticity and strength. Researchers then harvested ear cartilage cells from sheep. The researchers from Massachusetts worked with a plastic surgeon to create the 3D mould. It was filled with cow collagen while the team grew enough cartilage cells inside rats to replace the collagen in the mould. Wires were then added to help maintain the shape of the ears . Scientists . at Princeton University have created a breakthrough bionic ear that can . 'hear' radio frequencies beyond the range of normal human ears. The researchers used a radical 3D printing technique to create the ear with the electronics of a hearing aid inside it. They . say it is a major step towards creating 'cybermen' such as those seen . in the Terminator films, which combine living cells and electronic . circuits. Earlier this . year, doctors from Cornell University used 3D printing to create a . prosthetic ear using cells of cartilage, similar to the ones created in . Massachusetts. A solid plastic mould was printed and then filled with high-density collagen gel. The researchers then added cartilage cells into the collagen matrix. For . the prototype, they used cells taken from cows, but could in theory use . cells of cartilage from elsewhere in the patient's body. These cells were implanted under the skin of lab rats and the team then spent three months growing enough cartilage inside the rats to replace the cow collagen used in the moulds. The . researchers said that the modelled ear had enough definition in the . curves and lines to be recognisable even once a layer of skin had been . applied to it. 'All the implants were well tolerated,' said Cervantes. 'The implants with wire resembled a human ear, whereas implants without wire were flattened and distorted. 'The surfaces of both were white, glistening and grossly resembled cartilage. 'The constructs with the embedded wire framework had significantly improved size and shape fidelity, compared with those without the framework. The implants were flexible.' The same team previously carried out a proof of concept study on mice using cartilage cells in an ear-shaped collagen mould, but this was only analysed in 2D. The researchers said: 'The technology is now under development for clinical trials, and thus we have scaled up and redesigned the prominent features of the scaffold to match the size of an adult human ear and to preserve the aesthetic appearance after implantation. 'We also employed more rigorous methods to analyse the fidelity of the ear geometry after implantation.' They added: 'These quantitative shape analysis results have identified opportunities to improve shape fidelity of engineered ear constructs.' Each year thousands of children are born with a congenital deformity called microtia, when the external ear is not fully developed. Many have an intact inner ear, but experience hearing loss due to the missing external structure. The findings feature in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. Once the cartilage in the mould had fused and set, researchers put the ear through various stress tests to analyse its flexibility. A layer of skin was also applied to make the ear look more lifelike .
sheep . An artificial - and very lifelike - ear filled with cow collagen while the team grew University used 3D printing to create a . plastic mould was printed and then filled with added cartilage cells into the collagen matrix. These cells were implanted under the skin of lab