Plastic surgeons at the Welsh centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery in Morriston Hospital are working with engineers and scientists to develop 3-D printed tissue - made from human cells – for the first time.
They hope that in a few years’ time, patients who have lost all or part of their ear or nose through trauma or cancer could have reconstruction using new tissue which is grown from their own cells.
3-D printing is increasingly used to manufacture prosthetics and implants from materials like plastic or titanium. But bio-printing – using human cells instead of man-made material– is still a very new science.
The team from Swansea have already succeeded in bio-printing small pellets of living tissue, proving the delicate cells can survive the 3-D printing process.
They have also developed a jelly-like support structure, which can be used as the ink for printing the intricate shape of an ear or nose and, critically, is compatible with the human cells.
The next stage is to blend the jelly and cartilage cells together; and 3-D print them into bespoke tissue for reconstructive surgery. The resulting part will need to be strong enough to not only with stand the surgical procedure to attach it to the patient, but survive indefinitely as healthy tissue afterwards.
This tissue engineering process in ongoing, but it is anticipated that real-life surgical trials could begin in as little as 3-4 years’ time.
“We want to try and help people who were born with defects, or who have lost parts of their ear or nose as a result of trauma or cancer. We are using human cells, growing them up, to combine them with a printable material, 3-D print them and implant them into the human body.
“Lots of people have heard about 3-D printing, which is becoming more mainstream, and you can actually buy 3-D printers on the internet, to print plastics or metals. But we are working on the next stage - 3-D bioprinting - which is printing living tissues, living structures.
Professor Iain Whitaker, Consultant Plastic Surgeon, and Chair in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Swansea University Medical School, is heading up the team. He explained: “This work is at the relatively early stages of development and requires combining many areas of expertise; but we already have proof of concept that human cells can survive within the printable structures we’ve made so far, and will survive the printing process.
“We’re currently working on growing up large numbers of cells in order to print larger constructs, and undertake a number of tests to ensure it will be stable enough to be used to implant into a patient.
“It’s very difficult to give a time frame on any medical discovery which is based on scientific principles. But I would say that in two-three years we should be in a position to trial with animals, and within a year after that – pending ethical approval – we should be in a position to trial this in humans.”
Working alongside Professor Whitaker are Ms Zita Jessop, Dr Ayesha Al-Sabah, Dr Sian Morgan, Mr Muhammad Javed. Ms Jessop, a Plastic Surgery Registrar at the ABMU has recently won a prestigious Medical Research Council Training Fellowship (The first of its kind at Swansea University) to work on this project.
The Reconstructive Surgery and Regenerative Medicine Research Group in Swansea is a unique, multi-disciplinary collaboration including surgeons at the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, cell biologists at Swansea University Medical School (Professor Charles Archer, Professor Catherine Thornton, Professor Shareen Doak, Dr Dao Xia) and engineers at the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating (Professor David Gethin, Professor Tim Claypole, Dr Davide Deganello and Dr Daniel Thomas).
Dr Thomas himself has designed and custom made 3D bio-printers currently used by surgeons in the lab.
This unique mix of expertise is pushing forward the research and development much faster than if the fields worked in isolation.
The team is grateful for the initial support from Professor Steve Bain and the Research and Development team at ABMU Health Board, which has led on to prestigious awards from The Royal College of Surgeons, British Association of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons and the Medical Research Council.
