Motorola Mobility, a Google company, is building a 3D printed modular phone, and has partnered with 3D Systems for commercial fulfillment. More »
The Captured Dimensions pop-up studio was located in the Smithsonian Castle and featured approximately 80 digital cameras all connected to 3D software. More »
Microsoft expanded their support for 3D printing by launching a Windows 8 app called 3D Builder. It includes a library of objects you can edit and 3D print. More »
3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) announced the availability of the Sense 3D scanner, the first 3D scanner designed for the consumer and optimized for 3D printing. More »
With rumors circling that 3D Systems will be purchased by IBM, the stock soars. We look at why IBM might be interested in the 3D printing giant. More »
Yearly Archives: 2012
Scientists Create Blood Vessels Using Sugar and 3D Printing
University researchers have discovered a way to 3D print blood vessels, using sugar as the “ink” and a RepRap 3D printer. UPenn and MIT researchers collaborated on the study.
The research was conducted by a team led by postdoctoral fellow Jordan S. Miller and Christopher S. Chen, the Skirkanich Professor of Innovation in the Department of Bioengineering at Penn, along with Sangeeta N. Bhatia, Wilson Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and postdoctoral fellow Kelly R. Stevens in Bhatia’s laboratory.
The researchers published their findings in Nature and summarized their results in a UPenn statement.
Rather than trying to print a large volume of tissue and leave hollow channels for vasculature in a layer-by-layer approach, Chen and colleagues focused on the vasculature first and designed free-standing 3D filament networks in the shape of a vascular system that sat inside a mold. As in lost-wax casting, a technique that has been used to make sculptures for thousands of years, the team’s approach allowed for the mold and vascular template to be removed once the cells were added and formed a solid tissue enveloping the filaments.
The formula they settled on — a combination of sucrose and glucose along with dextran for structural reinforcement — is printed with a RepRap, an open-source 3D printer with a custom-designed extruder and controlling software. An important step in stabilizing the sugar after printing, templates are coated in a thin layer of a degradable polymer derived from corn. This coating allows the sugar template to be dissolved and to flow out of the gel through the channels they create without inhibiting the solidification of the gel or damaging the growing cells nearby. Once the sugar is removed, the researchers start flowing fluid through the vascular architecture and cells begin to receive nutrients and oxygen similar to the exchange that naturally happens in the body.
Below is a video showing their amazing discovery.
Read more from the UPenn summary.
Blood vessel photo by shoebappa used under Creative Commons license.
Fab Lab of the Week: 3D Printing Providence Interest Group
This week’s featured Fab Lab is 3DPPVD, or 3D Printing Providence. Although 3DPPVD is more of a meetup than a Fab Lab, it is spreading the interest and adoption of 3D printing.
We are pleased to announce the first meeting of 3DPPVD, a monthly meetup for MakerBot, RepRap, other 3D printer operators and anyone who’s interested in digital fabrication. Even if you are not an owner of a 3D printer this will be a great opportunity to learn about the emerging field of desktop rapid prototyping. If you do have a printer feel free to bring it down and show off your mods and prints.
Our first meeting will be on Wednesday July 11th at AS220 Labs (AS220 Mercantile Block, 131 Washington St (Entrance on Lucie Way), Providence, Ri) from 7pm until they kick us out. Since this is the inaugural event, there won’t be a theme so we have time to get to know each other and find out what kind of topics we would like to discuss at future events. This event is free and open to the public so please bring your friends and family.
Via MAKE.
3D printer photo by makerbot used under Creative Commons license.
Infographic: Go On, Print a Liver – The Evolution of Bio 3D Printing
We have covered the emergence of 3D printed organs and other scientific feats made possible by 3D printing.
This infographic, created by Printerinks, shows the journey from humble origins in 1984 to today’s scientific breakthroughs by companies such as Organovo.
Webpronews commented on the infographic:
As we learned back when researchers were creating working blood vessels with a 3D printer, the process is as simple as it is complex. It starts with the growth of cells. The 3D printer comes into play when they are used to create a layered structure that’s then layered with cells that attach to the structure and turn it into the organ.
With our current technology, it’s estimated that it would take 10 days to print a liver. As technology improves, it’s estimated that scientists could print a liver in three hours. That’s great news for the thousands of people who are waiting for a live transplant to save their life.
The creation of organs through 3D printing has another, less talked about function, as well. If we could test drugs on 3D printed human livers, it would save millions of dollars and years of time that it takes to develop and test new drugs on animals before it’s even considered for human testing.
As you can see, 3D printing is seriously the most important invention of the 20th century.
Go on, print a liver.
Via Webpronews.
Always Wanted Your Own Action Figure? 3D Print Your Face [Video]
Have you always wanted your own action figure that you — er, your kids — could play with?
ThatsMyFace.com lets you upload two photos and then uses 3D printing to create an action figure head with your face on it. These heads are designed to fit 12″ action figure bodies with HotToys neck types but can be adapted to fit other figurine bodies as well. Custom head sizes can be requested.
Watch the video below for a demo of various realistic faces.
How Leading Scientists Across Fields are Embracing 3D Printing
Nature, the international weekly journal of science, published a feature on how 3D printing is opening up new worlds to research. In a detailed article, Nature covers uses of 3D printing by leading scientists ranging from investigating complex molecules, designing custom lab tools, printing and sharing rare artifacts, and manufacturing cardiac tissue that beats like a heart.
We recommend you read the full feature. Below are some of the highlights:
Paleontology
At palaeontology and anthropology conferences, more and more people are carrying printouts of their favourite fossils or bones. “Anyone who thinks of themselves as an anthropologist needs the right computer graphics and a 3D printer. Otherwise it’s like being a geneticist without a sequencer,” says Zollikofer.
Read more coverage on paleontology.
Molecular biology
These days, 3D printing is being used to mock up far more complex systems, says Arthur Olson, who founded the molecular graphics lab at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, 30 years ago. These include molecular environments made up of thousands of interacting proteins, which would be onerous-to-impossible to make any other way. With 3D printers, Olson says, “anybody can make a custom model”. But not everybody does: many researchers lack easy access to a printer, aren’t aware of the option or can’t afford the printouts (which can cost $100 or more).
Organ reproduction
For example, Organovo, a company based in San Diego, California, has developed a printer to build 3D tissue structures that could be used to test pharmaceuticals. The most advanced model it has created so far is for fibrosis: an excess of hard fibrous tissue and scarring that arises from interactions between an organ’s internal cells and its outer layer. The company’s next step will be to test drugs on this system. “It might be the case that 3D printing isn’t the only way to do this, but it’s a good way,” says Keith Murphy, a chemical engineer and chief executive of Organovo.
Read more coverage on organ printing.
Custom lab tools
In the meantime, basic plastic 3D printers are starting to allow researchers to knock out customized tools. Leroy Cronin, a chemist at the University of Glasgow, UK, grabbed headlines this year with his invention of ‘reactionware’ — printed plastic vessels for small-scale chemistry (M. D. Symes et al. Nature Chem. 4,349–354; 2012). Cronin replaced the ‘inks’ in a $2,000 commercially available printer with silicone-based shower sealant, a catalyst and reactants, so that entire reaction set-ups could be printed out. The point, he says, is to make customizable chemistry widely accessible. His paper showed how reactionware might be harnessed to produce new chemicals or to make tiny amounts of specific pharmaceuticals on demand. For now, other chemists see the idea as a clever gimmick, and are waiting to see what applications will follow.
Read more coverage on custom lab equipment.
