3D printers to grow replacement body parts

Brisbane, Australia – Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and three of the world's leading research universities in the 3D printing of replacement body parts have joined forces to offer the world's first International Master in Biofabrication whereby graduates will hold a master degree from an Australian university in addition to a master degree from a European university.

Biofabrication is a process by which scientists can regrow most types of human tissue using 3D printers. QUT's biofabrication research is well advanced in printing 3D custom-made scaffolds using bio-ink infused with the patient's stem cells to enable the body to grow a new breast after mastectomy.

All world leaders in biofabrication research, the four universities offering the two-year, two-degree master program are: QUT and the University of Wollongong in Australia, the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands and the University of Würzburg in Germany.

QUT Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation's Professor Dietmar W. Hutmacher leads QUT's biofabrication research.

"This degree is a vital step in ensuring Australia is a high-value, high-tech manufacturer in the future," Hutmacher said. "Graduates will be at the forefront of an industry that will always be in high demand given the ageing of populations around the world and which cannot be easily replicated by any other country. Each of the four universities has established a track record in key areas of biofabrication, including polymer chemistry, cell biology, and clinical implants. The universities will each admit 10 students to the degree who will graduate with a multidisciplinary outlook and expertise which would be welcome anywhere in the world."

Watch a video on the 3D printing of replacement body parts, led by QUT's Professor Dietmar W. Hutmacher. 

He said the Australian students would spend 9 to 12 months studying at one of the European universities and the European students would study at one of the Australian universities.

"Graduates of the new higher degree will gain an international career and have the ability to lead this exciting medical revolution which is going to be particularly important for our ageing populations," Hutmacher said.

"Biofabrication can be used to repair cartilage, bone, muscles, nerves, and skin that have been damaged by trauma, disease, or cancer. It is even predicted that entire organs will be biofabricated within a few decades.

"At QUT, we are already researching the use of such scaffolds to regrow breast tissue in women who've had surgery for breast cancer."

He said this new field of medicine employed the 3D printers to build up fine, intricate layers of different types of biomaterials into individualized structures, which dissolve into the body as the new tissue grows.

These tailor-made structures are then implanted into the body to act as a scaffold on which the new tissue can grow.

Professor Gordon Wallace, Director of the University of Wollongong's ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, said graduates of the master program would be in high demand.

"It is exciting to be involved in this venture with QUT. It is an excellent example of how Australian expertise and resources can combine to have a real presence on the global stage," Wallace said.

Hutmacher said although it would be up to five years until the technique could be used to regrow a breast, biofabrication was already successfully being used to repair broken and missing bone. "For example, patients with a piece of skull missing have already been successfully fitted with a 3D-printed scaffold custom-made to fit the hole.

"The scaffolds contain the patient's bone cells and growth enhancers so that the skull grows over and the scaffold is absorbed into the new bone."

Hutmacher said biofabrication was a multidisciplinary area of research that required an understanding of chemistry, physics, biology, medicine, robotics and computer science and welcomed graduates in these fields to apply for the master degree.

The Master in Biofabrication is supported by the Government of Australia and the European Union.

Source: Queensland University of Technology