Scientists at NASA and Stanford University have attempted to 3D print cell clusters that are able to produce non-living structural biomaterials such as wood, bone minerals and tooth enamel. The team has indicated that they are on track to prove this concept by October 2014.

Lynn Rothchild, an evolutionary biologist who works for NASA and teaches astrobiology at Stanford is the team leader. Along with Diana Gentry, a doctoral candidate trained in biology mechanical engineering and Ashley Micks, a student at Stanford, Rothchild has been working long hours on a proof of concept for their new 3D printing process. Last year, the team was awarded $100,000 through NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (INAC) Program whose aim is to transform science fiction into fact.

Rothchild’s vision of the future does come close to science fiction as the technique being developed by the team could allow for habitats, space suits, or even the repair of the human body using 3D printed cell arrays. In this image of the future, the 3D printer could very well become the go-to equipment for replacing all sorts of parts. It is currently impossible to produce handy, biologically-derived materials such as bone, silk and wood in space related applications due to limitations relating to production, processing and manufacturing.

Product Placement Expo Exhibitor Offers Innovative Special Effects Assistance.

When filmmakers, set and costume designers build movie sets for the next big action thriller movies, chances are they’ll be using 3D Stuffmaker’s three-dimensional printing technology. This month, Steve Weatherly, Regional Account Director of 3D Stuffmaker USA, exhibited the latest 3D printing technology at the 2014 Product Placement Expo, on January 30, at the Miami Airport Convention Center, in Miami, Florida. Their customers are now using it to produce anything and everything from common household gadgets to new and innovative creations.

With the market saturated and audience fragmentation, advertisers are challenged to give their clients greater visibility. That means more impressions using non-traditional methods. The first 2014 Product Placement Expo aimed at filling this void in the entertainment industry for creative artists who need brand integration assistance. As such, advertisers and film producers, television producers, authors, and other creative artists met during the first annual Product Placement Expo.

Exhibitors at the first annual Product Placement Expo showcased vital items for filmmakers to produce their projects. Instead of waiting for marketing professionals to place traditional ad buys, the Product Placement Expo gave advertisers the opportunity to strategically integrate their products in potential blockbuster movies, books, music, TV series, video games, and comedic routines. We were not to be left out as we also had a booth at the 2014 Product Placement Expo which was sponsored by Wing Stop.

3D Printing has a Future in Car Making.

Mark One, a Boston-based startup announced recently the launch of its 3D printer that is able to print composite materials. Honda, a car maker based in Japan has also made it easy for its customers to print models of their cars using plans available online. It is possible to locate plans for the last 3 concept cars from Honda, as well as modify and download them.

At the moment, all this is just for fun. However, it does raise the question as to whether the car maker, or any of its competition, such as Ford, will release CAD (computer aided design) information and data on materials, thereby enabling customers to print out their own parts for repairs.

With this advance of 3D printing technology at a great rate, printers are improving and becoming cheaper as well. However, it has been a challenge for manufacturers and hardcore DIYers to print metals and composite materials. But all this is set to change. Mark One has created a 3D printer that enables users to print composite materials, thereby revolutionizing the types of things that users are able to print. The overall goal is to enable users to print complex materials made up of a variety.

 

1. Biomedical engineers in the United States have announced a unique micro-robotic technique to assemble the components of complex materials, bringing 3D-printed replacement organs even closer to reality.
2. Dr. Darryl D’Lima and colleagues at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California are developing new 3D bioprinting technology that will print living cartilage into the body to provide better treatment for patients with knee injuries.
3. Researchers at NASA and Stanford University are trying to 3D print cell clusters that can produce non-living structural biomaterials like wood, bone minerals and tooth enamel.
4. Utrecht’s experimental tissue factory aims to use research and 3D printing technology to break new ground in biofabrication and bring living, 3D-printed cartilage one step closer to reality.
5. A surgeon has helped a man to walk again by 3D-printing him a new pelvis. The patient had half of his original pelvis removed to stop the spread of chondrosarcoma, a rare type of cancer.
6. Boston-based startup Mark One recently announced a 3D printer that can print composite materials. DW looks at how car makers are using this technology and its possible effects.
7. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has already taken its first additive-manufactured device into space: a battery-mounting plate used for a sounding rocket mission.
8. Goddard technologists worked with EOS of America Inc. to develop the first 3D-manufactured object made with invar, a bendable material that’s resistant to shrinkage and expansion due to temperature changes.
9. Goddard has developed a system-on-a-chip with a housekeeping function. According to NASA, the “structured, radiation-hardened, application-specific, integrated circuit” consumes less than half a watt of power.

3D printed replacement organs developed by cell-building robots.

American biomedical engineers have announced a unique micro-robotic technique that they are now able to use in assembling components of complex materials, thereby bringing 3D printed replacement organs even closer to reality.

Many patients today are left on long waiting lists for life-saving treatment due to the shortage of available organs for transplantation. It is for this reason that 3D printing and tissue engineering have become of vital importance to the future of medicine. The ability to engineer organs using the cells of the patient should not only alleviate such shortages, but also address problems relating to the rejection of donated organs. With tissue engineering, researchers will be able to study cell behavior, including cancer cell resistance to therapy, as well as test new drugs or drug combinations for the treatment of numerous diseases.

Led by Savas Tasoglu, PhD in the BWH Division of Renal Medicine, scientists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and the Carnegie Mellon University, presented an approach that utilizes untethered magnetic micro-robotic coding for the precise construction of individual cell-encapsulating hydrogels (such as cell blocks). Remotely controlled using magnetic fields, the micro-robot is able to move one hydrogel at a time in order to build structures.

3D Cartilage to Be Bioprinted into Knees, Doctor Says.

Dr. Darryl D’Lima and his colleagues at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California are working on the development of a new 3D bioprinting technology for printing living cartilage into the body. The overall aim of this project is to provide patients with knee injuries with better treatment options. Described by collaborators and colleagues as a person that always thinks outside the box, Dr. D’Lima is a scientist and physician who utilizes innovations and technology from numerous fields to address the problems of his patients.

Dr. D’Lima has most recently been working on the development of 3D printing technology for printing living cartilage into patients who are suffering from knee injuries. Cartilage is the tissue that works in cushioning the knee joints. However, cartilage is not able to regenerate well and may result in severe pain.

Doctors currently advise patients to deal with knee pain until an artificial joint replacement is deemed necessary. This type of procedure is very painful and may not result in an end to the problems that the patient is suffering from. Dr. D’Lima and his team hope to provide a better alternative to traditional joint implants by developing this 3D bioprinter to print living cartilage.