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The advent of three-dimensional (3D) printing has generated a swell of interest in artificial organs meant to replace, or even enhance, human machinery.
Printed organs, such as a prototype outer ear developed by researchers at Princeton University in New Jersey and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, will be on the agenda at the Inside 3D Printing conference in New York on 15–17 April. The ear is printed from a range of materials: a hydrogel to form an ear-shaped scaffold, cells that will grow to form cartilage, and silver nanoparticles to form an antenna (M. S. Mannoor et al. Nano Lett. 13, 2634−2639; 2013). The device is just one example of the increasing versatility of 3D printing.
The New York meeting, which bills itself as the largest event in the industry, will have plenty of widgets and novelties on display. But it will also feature serious discussions on the emerging market for printed body parts (see gallery for some of the latest results).
That business is currently focused on titanium replacement hip joints, which can be...