A team of University of Arizona researchers is getting a $2 million military grant for its work on bone regrowth technology.
The Arizona Daily Star in Tucson reports the five-year grant comes from the Department of Defense with the hope that it could eventually benefit wounded soldiers.
John Szivek is leading the study of regenerating missing bone through a combination of adult stem cells and 3D printing. The biomedical engineer and professor of orthopedic surgery says the typical solution for bone-shattering injuries is to use a support rod and a cadaver bone.
But the cadaver bone inevitably cracks and breaks within a couple of years.
The team has so far tested their methods only on sheep.
The technology would also one day be made available to civilians.
Source: The Associated Press
