We may await the day that 3D bioprinting is ubiquitous practice, but MakerBot and 
Goldstein with Dr. Grande.
Trachea 3D Printed with Ordinary PLA
Repairing narrow or weak trachea – resulting from cancer, intubation, and blunt trauma, among other possibilities – is typically a difficult process, with the two most popular techniques suffering from limitations. For this reason, Drs. Lee Smith and David Zeltsman, of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, began considering the process 3D printing and engineering tissue for tracheal repair, believing that such technology was still ten to twenty years in the making. The two then turned to Goldstein, a PhD candidate at the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, and Daniel A. Grande, director of the Orthopedic Research Laboratory at the Feinstein Institute, who spent the past year examining the possibility of repairing and replacing damaged trachea using 3D printing and tissue engineering. And, in just one month, Goldstein and Grande were able to pull of the 3D printing and engineering of a human trachea.
The Feinstein Institute had previously been able to culture cartilage by binding chondrocytes and growth nutrients via collagen, but had yet to construct that cartilage into a useful structure. By 3D printing the scaffolding from PLA on a MakerBot Replicator 2X Experimental 3D Printer, however, the researchers were able to make a significant breakthrough. Goldstein explains, “Making a windpipe or trachea is uncharted territory. It has to be rigid enough to withstand coughs, sneezes and other shifts in pressure, yet flexible enough to allow the neck to move freely. With 3D printing, we were able to construct 3D-printed scaffolding that the surgeons could immediately examine and then we could work together in real time to modify the designs.”
Existing bioprinters can have pricetags that range in the 
The mods for Feinstein’s bioprinter can be found on Thingiverse: 
Surviving four weeks in the incubator, the trachea is a proof-of-concept for what could be. The abstract for Goldstein’s study explains how the trachea cartilage was able to grow similar to that of an actual windpipe, “The cells survived the 3D printing process, were able to continue dividing, and produced the extracellular matrix expected of tracheal chondrocytes.” The next stage is much continued research and FDA approval.
Dr. Smith believes that day might be just five years away. Saying that the North Shore-LIJ Health System sees at least one patient a year that cannot be helped by the two prevailing tracheal repair techniques. In the future, though, he believes that it might be possible to harvest a patient’s own cells and grow them on custom, 3D printed scaffolding. This approach would be particularly advantageous for helping children. Smith says, “There’s really a limitless number of sizes and permutations you might need to reconstruct an airway in a child.”
He continues, “This project will probably define my scientific career. As we produce something that can replace a segment of trachea, we’ll constantly be modifying and optimizing, the correct bio materials, the correct way to bond the cells to the scaffold. 3D printing and tissue engineering has the potential to replace lots of different parts of the human body. The potential for creating replacement parts is almost limitless.”
Goldstein, now Feinstein’s resident 3D printing specialist, believes that his course has been guided by the research, saying, “Knowing that I can make a part that will save someone’s child — that’s life-changing.”
MakerBot is continuing to support the staff at Feinstein, providing their new composite PLAs to the institute for the researchers to explore the possibilities of calcium carbonate and iron filaments. Jenny Lawton, CEO of MakerBot, contributed, “The research being done at the Feinstein Institute is exciting and promising. We are continually amazed by what is being created with 3D Printers. To know that a MakerBot Replicator 3D Printer played a role in a potential medical breakthrough is inspiring.”
Dr. Grande, who originally turned to the Feinstein researchers for the project, puts a nice concluding touch on the story, saying, “Do you remember the Six Million Dollar Man? The Bionic Man is not the future, it’s the present. We have that ability to do that now. It’s really exciting.”
For a more technical telling of the story, watch the Feinstein video below:
