Based on one of the latest publications made by the research and development department of the Massey UniversityApparently one of its teams has managed to develop the necessary methodology to achieve 3D printing of corneas that can be transplanted into humans. As a detail, anticipate that these corneas are created by a 3D printer from fish scales.
As has been published by the team of researchers led by Johan potgeiter, the 3D printer needs collagen to make these corneas. This collagen, a protein that our skin is made of, can be obtained from the scales of fish and, on this occasion, the chosen one has been the Hoki fish because the human body accepts corneas made from its collagen .
These 3D-printed corneas could cure the blindness of up to 10 million people
As he commented Johan potgeiner in his latest statements:
We can have a way to do this for a world market, as cheaply as possible, that is the purpose of this research.
You should be able to get it extremely cheap as we are talking about a renewable resource and the machines needed to make these corneas should be very affordable.
Without a doubt we are talking about a great advance in this field, especially if we take into account certain aspects such as the simple fact that Hoki fish scales are still considered a waste product to this day, something that may change from this research, not in vain, the team, has already contacted several fishmongers in New Zealand to establish a partnership to supply these scales.