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Ben passed his B Exam and received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Congrats, Ben!

Sierra Cook received the Best Student Abstract Award at the 4th International Conference on BioTribology. Congrats, Sierra!

Jorge passed his B Exam and received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Congrats, Jorge!

Chris DiDomenico passed his B Exam and received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Congrats, Chris!

Crystal Zhao was awarded the Undergraduate Research Award from the Cornell Engineering Alumni Association (CEAA) for the best individual research project. Congrats, Crystal!

Benjamin Cohen publishes a paper in the Annals of Plastic Surgery. The paper is entitled, Tissue Engineering Auricular Cartilage Using Late Passage Human Auricular Chondrocytes.

Auricular (ear) reconstruction is a challenging clinical procedure, and tissue engineering offers a superior technique to accurately and effectively replace a damaged or deformed auricle. A clinical biopsy of healthy ear cartilage can provide ~10 million auricular chondrocytes, however a full-sized pediatric ear requires at least 200 million cells to generate. Repeated passaging of chondrocytes to expand their number has been shown to limit the ability of the cells to produce new cartilage, however limited research exists regarding this process with auricular-specific chondrocytes. This paper examines the capacity for extensively expanded auricular chondrocytes to produce native-like auricular cartilage following implantation to determine the limit of potential chondrocyte expansion. We found that cells expanded as far as fifth passage were capable of generating robust auricular cartilage while also significantly increasing in number. This work indicates that a clinically relevant donor amount of cartilage has the potential to populate a full-sized ear construct, bringing us closer to the translation of tissue engineering as a method of auricular reconstruction.

Prof. Bonassar was interviewed by CNN for his reaction to a recently published study about a clinical application of tissue engineered cartilage.  The story describes work in which researchers from China implanted tissue-engineered ears onto children with microtia, a congenital defect in which the external ear is malformed at birth.  The Bonassar lab has pioneered new techniques for manufacturing of engineered cartilage using techniques such as 3D printing and injection molding.  This new work paves the way for clinical trials of this technology in the near future.

The Bonassar Lab has recently been featured in the Cornell Chronicle, following collaborative work between the Bonassar Lab and Histogenics, Inc. This article highlights the role the lab played in a $87 million deal made by Histogenics. Follow this link to read the full article.

Nicole Diamantides, a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering in the Bonassar Lab, won the Cellink 3D Bioprinting Award at the 2017 Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) meeting in Charlotte, NC. Her paper, “The Effects of Adding Chondrocytes on the Printability of Collagen Bioinks for Cartilage Bioprinting,” investigated the effects of cell content on the rheology on collagen bioinks and how rheological parameters affects the printability of these inks.