Researchers in the US have grown artificial ears with startling
levels of realism, achieving the difficult task of creating ears
that are both strong, flexible and the right shape.
The team at Massachusetts General Hospital -- including Joseph
Vacanti, the scientist who became famous for first growing
human ears on the backs of rats in the 90s -- used a titanium
wire framework to create a balance between shape and
"We've demonstrated the first full-sized adult human ear on the
rat model," study-lead Thomas Cervantes, told BBC
In a paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface on 31 July, the
team explain that the wire framework reduced shape changes during
the growing process significantly, when compared to artificial ears
that are grown without a wire frame.
"The implants with wire resembled a human ear," write the
authors. "Whereas implants without wire were flattened and
Sheep cartilage cells were seeded onto a collagen infrastructure
-- with the wire framework -- and allowed to settle for two weeks,
before being grown beneath the skin of male nude rats for a further
Although the work is still years away from clinical trials, the
ability to regrow soft tissue body parts like ears and noses could
revolutionise the way that plastic surgery is carried out on people
who have experienced some types of facial disfigurement. Indeed,
the work was partly sponsored by the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine.