Maybe we don’t have flying cars yet, but 3D printed organs? This sci-fi fantasy has just come one step closer to reality thanks to a fast 3D printing method developed by the University of Buffalo engineers.
Their work was recently included in a study published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials, which you can read Here, and is also demonstrated in the frankly disturbing gif above. This accelerated filming shows a 3D printer that completely builds an artificial hand in just 19 minutes, a task that would take six hours using conventional 3D printing methods, the team said.
“The technology we have developed is 10-50 times faster than the industry standard and works with large samples, which were very difficult to achieve before,” said study co-author Ruogang Zhao, an associate professor. of biomedical engineering at the university in a press release Friday.
The process is based on stereolithography, a long-term 3D printing method that uses lasers to harden liquid resin and jelly-like substances called hydrogels, which can absorb large amounts of water without dissolving. Hydrogels are commonly used in commercial products, such as contact lenses, and disposable diapers, although scientists have also experimented with their potential biomedical treatments.
According to the researchers, this method is especially suitable for the correct printing of all small details in cells with embedded blood vessel networks, which is expected to play a critical role in the possible production of 3D printed tissue and human organs.
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“Our method allows fast printing of centimeter-sized hydrogel models. Significantly reduces partial deformation and cell damage caused by prolonged exposure to environmental stresses that you typically see in conventional 3D printing methods, ”said Chi Zhou, the study’s other co-author, associate professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University .
The team’s research was funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and the National Institutes of Health, as well as the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, according to the press release.
The idea of 3D printed organs still seems like a futuristic jumbo mumbo to me, but I guess if you can already eat 3D printed meat a 3D printed house where you keep 3D printed gun, then the sky is the limit.