3D printing has gone a long way from being utilized in creating medical models to creating real organs. Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland were able to create noses using a 3D bioprinter. The method of 3D bioprinting nose implants was developed by a team of researchers led by Marcy Zenobi-Wong and Matti Kesti. The 3D bioprinted noses can be used as implants on people who are suffering from nose anomalies due to genetic problems or because of injuries.

However, before the noses are fitted on to human patients, they will be tested on sheep first. Tests using large animals are a part of the clinical trials. This is to ensure that the 3D bioprinted nose implants will not have any issues such as organ rejection. If all goes well on sheep testing, this technique will be used on human patients and will then be regularly available to many hospitals all over the world.

The best thing about using a 3D bioprinter in making nose implants is that it only takes around 16 minutes to create the implants including the joint cartilage which is a tough part of the nose implants. To make the 3D bioprinted nose implants, the researchers printed nasal sections using the cartilage of a patient. The cartilage obtained from the patient is then mixed with biopolymer which is easily broken down by the body through time.

So far, researchers are successful with the dimensional model generated by the computer and they are just waiting results regarding the sheep testing.