• Question: how do you get human ears to grow on mice/rats ?

    Asked by to Alan, Deepak, Francesca, Lilly, Nick on 17 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Alan Fitzsimmons

      Alan Fitzsimmons answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      I don’t know the details! I think they put a cartilage framework on the back of the mouse and grew the skin issue over it. But I don’t do science in that area, you’d have to ask a scientist who does – or find out yourself!

    • Photo: Francesca Day

      Francesca Day answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      That’s a great question – I’m not sure! I think, as Alan said, they put cartilage (the stuff between your bones) on the back of the mouse and then grow the ear on that.

    • Photo: Lilian Hunt

      Lilian Hunt answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      Ok, this was a mouse that I’m sure you’ve seen lots of pictures of. The ear was actually ear-shaped cartilage. It was grown by cow cartilage cells being grown in an ear shaped mold and then implanting this under the skin of the mouse. It was shaped like a human ear so it could be used to replace a human’s but wouldn’t be able to function really. So this looked pretty weird but was really about understanding the future possibilities of this science: could we grow other organs to be used for human transplants? And it could be useful for plastic surgery for children born without ears and noses. 🙂

    • Photo: Nick Wright

      Nick Wright answered on 21 Mar 2014:

      That’s a good question! I think they do it by putting part of the ear on the mouse and making sure that the ear gets everything the ear needs to grow (blood, oxygen, etc). Its an amazing process don’t you think? It could be used a lot more in the future to grow body parts for people who are born without certain parts of their bodies, or to grow replacements for people who have accidents.

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