When Professor Hala Zreiqat asked for a patent to be filed on her work, the commercial arm of her university wavered.

Zreiqat issued an ultimatum. Either they filed by 5pm that Friday, or she would go to the bank, get the money, and do it herself.

The patent was filed two minutes before the deadline.

It was for a world-first synthetic bone substitute, which can be personalised for each patient and manufactured using a 3D-printer. Created by Zreiqat from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sydney, it’s launched a new era in orthopaedics. Within two decades or less, the need for plates, screws, endless surgeries, and frantic searches for bone donors, may be over.

This article first appeared in The Brilliant. You can read the whole article here.

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