Penn State researchers have received a $2.8 million grant to investigate 3D bioprinting tissue for facial reconstructions, according to a Penn State news release.

The grant, from the National Institutes of Healths National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, funds five years of research exploring methods for bioprinting face, mouth and skull tissue directly into patients during surgery, with the ultimate goal of developing a bioprinting technology, according to the release.

Craniomaxillofacial reconstruction currently presents challenges for doctors because it requires precisely stacking several different types of tissue. Penn States researchers hope to solve this problem by bioprinting the tissue directly into the subject, according to the release. Researchers will also be investigating the use of stem cells, biomaterials and differentiation factors in this process.

The team of researchers that received the grant includes professors of plastic surgery, biomedical engineering, and orthopedics and rehabilitation.

The researchers plan to investigate printing each type of tissue necessary for craniomaxillofacial reconstruction bone, fat and skin tissue individually, then study composite tissues that include all three of these layers. They hope that this will help them better understand how vascularization occurs in each type of tissue.

Ultimately, researchers hope to learn how different types of tissue interact and how bioprinting tissue directly into subjects will affect the facial reconstruction process.

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Penn State receives grant to study bioprinting tissue for facial reconstructions - The Daily Collegian Online