Menu Close
The Conversation
Podcasts / Speaking with...
Mia Woodruff at the November 2016 launch of the Herston Biofabrication Institute, a collaboration between QUT and the Metro North Hospital and Health Service. AAP

Speaking with: Mia Woodruff about using 3D printing to replace body parts

William Isdale, The University of Melbourne, Mia Woodruff

Author

Interviewed

Disclosure statement

William Isdale does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Partners

University of Melbourne provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU.

View all partners

Speaking with: Mia Woodruff about using 3D printing to replace body parts

3D printing is fundamentally changing the way we make many objects – from construction materials to toys and even food.

And being able to 3D-scan the environment, even our own bodies, means that tools and prosthetics that were once mass-produced can now be custom-made for the people they’re designed to help, at a low cost.

What if one of the most essential items in the hospital of the future is a 3D printer?

William Isdale speaks with Queensland University of Technology’s Mia Woodruff about the work she and her team are doing to explore the use of 3D-printed bio-gels and scaffolds in healing cartilage and bone injuries, and looking to a future where biological functions for those currently on organ donor lists might be fulfilled by bio-compatible machines created in a lab.

Subscribe to The Conversation’s Speaking With podcasts on iTunes, or follow on Tunein Radio.

Additional Audio

Music

Want to write?

Write an article and join a growing community of more than 182,500 academics and researchers from 4,943 institutions.

Register now