3D printed bionic ears.

Description and illustration of the first 3D printed bionic organ: an ear.  From the Abstract: "The ability to three-dimensionally interweave biological tissue with functional electronics could enable the creation of bionic organs possessing enhanced functionalities over their human counterparts. Conventional electronic devices are inherently two-dimensional, preventing seamless multidimensional integration with synthetic biology, as the processes and materials are very different. Here, we present a novel strategy for overcoming these difficulties via additive manufacturing of biological cells with structural and nanoparticle derived electronic elements.' The abstract and two color images are available from acs.org at this link.