“First 3D Printed Human Corneas” – Experimental Eye Research

* Millions of people require surgery to replace their damaged or scarred corneas but there is a shortage of available transplants

* A paper in “Experimental Eye Research” reports a method of creating “bio-ink” (mixture of human corneal stroma cells from donor corneas, alginate and collagen)

* Using a bio-printer researchers at Newcastle University extruded this corneal cell bio-ink into concentric circles to form the shape of human cornea

* By measuring the dimensions of the patient’s eye and using that data in the printing process which takes around 10 minutes, the corneal cells then grow within this printed structure and can match the exact size/shape needed for patient.