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Hi all and welcome to week 6 of Authentise News-In-Review!
This week we are going to talk about customization for medical applications. AM’s freedom of design makes this one of technology’s core benefits, but nowhere is this more true than in the medical arena. We’ve long heard about custom prosthetics but it can go much further than that. Personalized medicine is taking giant steps to practicality thanks to AM and new “bioinks” are enabling new treatments that could mould to specific patients’ scenarios, like dodging intolerances or adding particular vitamin supplements. Laboratories can study diseases in custom made samples thanks to 3D printing’s power to change design, physical properties and materials on the designer’s whim.
Let’s dive in.
A new 3D bioink for PolyJet 3D printed pills
Researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a viable bioink for 3D printed pills. In this study, Giovanny Acosta-Vélez, Chase Linsley, Madison Craig and Benjamin Wu favour the inkjet technique over other 3D printing technologies for its speed and ability to print at room temperature. The temperate environment ensures that active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) aren’t damaged in the process, and speed is of course preferable for mass production. The 3D printable bioink from UCL is made from hyaluronic acid – a key ingredient in skin, connective tissues and the nervous system. A photoinitator is added to the acid so that it solidifies when in contact with light. This mixture is used to fill preformed tablets displaying the properties of an atypical oral tablet.
Read the full article here.
Porous 3D printed scaffolds help Rice University scientists tackle bone cancer
Scientists at Rice University in Houston have used 3D printing to create porous, bone-like scaffolds that can be used to study bone cancer tumors. They found that the size and orientation of individual pores affected how cells proliferate in the absence of blood. According to bioengineer Antonios Mikos, the 3D printed polymer bone scaffold contains artificial pores that constrain the flow of fluid and apply shear stress to tumor cells […] The scientists believe that this model could be vital for finding out more about bone cancer and potential treatments: “We aim to develop tumor models that can capture the complexity of tumors in vitro and can be used for drug testing, thus providing a platform for drug development while reducing the associated cost,” Mikos said.
Read the full article here.
3D Printing the Future of Surgery
One of the most hotly anticipated areas for 3D printing to impact is medicine. A myriad of stories have appeared pointing to all manner of exciting innovations in the medical field. Sadly many of the “3D printed ear/nose/heart/ etc.” stories have been rather disingenuous or are at the very least very optimistic. To give you a more accurate view of the possibilities of 3D printing in medicine we’ll look at one particular area: surgery.
Read how AM is and will transform the surgical world on 3DPrint.
As always, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter to receive more news that don’t make the cut to the weekly report and come back next week for another News-In-Review!