Using an ovine model, researchers reconstructed jawbones by filling 3D printed bioreactors with either autologous bone or synthetic graft and implanting the bioreactors for 9 weeks adjacent to sheep rib cages to grow and harvest bony tissue; the authors successfully repaired the jawbones of five out of six sheep and suggest that the bioreactors could aid efforts to repair human jawbone defects and loss.
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Article #18-19246: "Biomaterials-aided mandibular reconstruction using in vivo bioreactors," by Alexander M. Tatara et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Antonios G. Mikos, Rice University, Houston, TX; tel: 713-348-5355, 713-203-3100; email: mikos@rice.edu
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences