Associate Prof Jaydee Cabral is a recipient of the Royal Society of New Zealand Catalyst Fund whose project is developing 3D-printed nipple areolar complexes for breast cancer patients.
"This research is so important because currently there is an unmet need for breast cancer patients who have loss of breast tissue."
There was at present nothing clinically available to replace the nipple area that could be lost during a mastectomy, she said.
Prof Cabral’s research specialised in creating vasculature, or blood vessels, for thicker tissue that was 3D printed.
Thicker tissue was harder to create than thinner tissue because there was a risk of hypoxia (low oxygen levels and nutrients in tissue) that caused the tissue to die, she said.
Prof Cabral was hopeful that solving the "vascularisation problem" for thicker tissue in this project would lead to further development which could one day include 3D printing of vital organs.
"How fantastic would it be if I could harvest your cells and grow them up, put them back into [a 3D printer], and print up a liver for you if you needed one."
Her project is in collaboration with Prof John Fisher, of the University of Maryland, who Prof Cabral will visit in June.
She said she would be like a "kid in a candy shop" when she visited his laboratories.
