14 DAY TRIAL // Biofabrication, otherwise known as 3D bioprinting, has been used to regrow human skin and cartilage, to replace bone, and even grow an ear. Given all this, it's no mystery that some people want to dedicate their lives to exploring the field further.
As it happens, though, the “field” wasn’t recognized as an actual field of study before today.
Now, though, there are four universities that offer a degree in 3D bioprinting, or biofabrication as it is otherwise known.
They are the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, the University of Würzburg in Germany, the University of Wollongong in NSW, and QUT in Queensland.
Applications will be accepted starting later this year, and the studies should take about as much as any other scientific specialty.
Those who take up such studies will earn two degrees at the end: one from an Australian University and one from one of the two European schools.
To start with, only 10 students will be accepted by each university. It should be enough to help the new field find its balance though, and even prevent it from faltering in its infancy due to lack of experts.
The graduates are the ones who will figure out how to make replacement tissue and organs, maybe invent new 3D bioprinters too while they're at it.