Independent experts said the transplant, part of the first clinical trial of a successful medical application of this technology, was one
extraordinary progress
in the field of tissue engineering. The new ear, transplanted in March, was molded in a shape that exactly matched the woman’s left ear, the regenerative medicine company explained.
And now it will continue to regenerate cartilage tissue, giving it the look and feel of a natural ear. “It’s definitely a great thing,” he said
Adam Feinberg
, professor of biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and co-founder of FluidForm, a regenerative medicine company that also uses 3D printing. “This shows that this technology is no longer an ‘if’, but a ‘when’,” he continued.
Meanwhile the
clinical trial
, which includes 11 patients, is still ongoing and it is possible that transplants could fail or lead to unforeseen health complications. However, since the cells come from the patient’s own tissue, 3DBio says it is likely that the new ear will not be rejected by the body.