BOSTON: A 3D printer works on a piece of replacement skull in Queensland University of Technology’s vision for the hospital of the future.
Imagine a hospital where broken bones and damaged tissue can be replicated and replaced by 3D printed body parts.
That is the vision of Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) Dr Mia Woodruff.
Dr Woodruff, who leads the Biomaterials and Tissue Morphology Group at QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, has been spearheading research into the area for the past few years.
Her work could potentially help future hospital patients twofold: by allowing surgeons to print 3D models of areas of the body they are to operate on; and printing a “scaffold” that can be implanted as a replacement.
The research, which uses a biofabrication machine that imparts tens of thousands of volts and robotic precision to produce 3D plastic scaffolds out of fibres much thinner than a human hair, is currently on display…