If only Van Gogh were alive today

As we said yesterday, it’s been a big week for medical transplants… and it just got even bigger.

For what’s likely the first time in history, a UK biotech firm called 3DBio Therapeutics managed to reconstruct the ear of a 20-year-old Mexican woman using a 3D printed living implant made from her own cells.

👂 A deeper dive… 3DBio’s implant is specifically for patients with microtia, a rare birth defect where the external ear is underdeveloped or doesn't exist at all; the range of affliction varies, per the CDC, which says it affects about 1 in every 2,000–10,000 babies in the US.

• To create the new appendage, 3DBio conducted a biopsy on the patient’s affected ear and extracted chondrocytes, the cells responsible for creating cartilage.
• Those cells were then mixed with a collagen-based bio-ink before being 3D printed in a shape that precisely matched the patient’s right ear.
• 3DBio said the ear will continue to regenerate cartilage as the months pass, giving it the look and feel of its natural counterpart.

👀 Looking ahead… The procedure was part of an ongoing clinical trial that began last August, though doctors are continuing to enroll subjects. Pending the outcome, 3DBio will conduct a second, larger trial before seeking FDA approval.