New Zealand research may lead to cheap mass production of artificial cornea for transplants - the cornea is the front transparent layer of the eye.

A Kiwi design that can fix human eyes with fish scales, using three-dimensional printers, could provide a cure for blindness for millions.

A Massey University team has successfully made a printer that turns out new corneas – the clear front part of the eye – designed for human transplant.

Associate Professor Johan Potgieter leads the development team, and says the printer builds the cornea from collagen, one of the main structural proteins our skin is made from. But the collagen will be sourced from the scales of hoki fish, which has been shown to be accepted by the human body.

Supplied Massey engineering PhD student Juan Schutte, with the bioprinting machine used to make corneas for human transplant.

"Worldwide, 10 million people need cornea transplants. If you lose your cornea, you'd be blind, and the only way you can get one is a donor cornea."

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"If we can have a way we can make this for a world market, as cheaply as possible, that's the dream. It should be extremely cheap, it's a renewable resource, and the machines should be very affordable."

ROSS GIBLIN Researchers have used hoki fish scales to create corneas for transplants to repair eyesight.

The team is now working out how to take its prototype design out of the lab, to use it for mass production, and has a grant of almost $1 million from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Options include selling the machines to clinics or selling the corneas themselves from New Zealand.

The fish scales are a waste product, and Potgieter said they had begun talks with iwi fisheries' interests to find a partnership that will provide the raw material.

ROSS GIBLIN New technology to use hoki byproduct to create cornea transplants for eye surgery could be a boon for Māori fishing companies.

"The whole idea is to stimulate and grow a new Māori economy."

Three-dimensional printing of human tissue has been done by various teams around the world to create simple body structures, like bladders and skin, Potgieter says. But this is the first time anyone has produced a cornea.

"This is a very unique technology. There's been attempts to grow cornea, but we'll be able to mass produce them and make hundreds a day."

The printers were similar to domestic 3-D printers currently available, he said.

"It's like a Ferrari, compared to the Beetle, the principles are the same – you squish out material, whether it's plastic or collagen.

"But you've got different levels of hygiene and control, but it's the same basic processing."

It is hoped the mass production process could be ready for testing at the end of next year.