Maybe we don’t have flying cars yet, but 3D printed organs? That sci-fi fashion got just one step closer to reality thanks to a fast 3D printing method developed by Buffalo University engineers.
Their work was recently included in a study published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials, which you can read here, and is also displayed in the scary gif above. This intriguing film shows a 3D printer raising an artificial hand in just 19 minutes, an action that would take six hours using standard 3D printing methods, the team said.
“The technology we have developed is 10-50 times faster than industry standard, and works with large sample sizes that have previously been very difficult to achieve,” said co-lead author the study Ruogang Zhao, associate professor of biochemicals. engineering at the university, in press release Friday.
The process relies on stereolithography, a long-established 3D printing method that uses lasers to harden melting resin, and jelly-like materials called hydrogels, which absorb a lot of water. into without melting. Hydrogels are commonly used in commercial products such as contact lenses, glue, and disposable diapers, although scientists have also experimented with them in capacity biochemical remedies.
According to researchers, this method is particularly suitable for the correct printing of all teenage details in cells with rooted blood vessel networks, something that is expected to be crucial in ultimately producing human and 3D-printed organs.
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“Our method allows fast printing of centimeter-sized hydrogel modules. It significantly reduces partial deformation and cell injury caused by the long period of environmental stress you typically see in conventional 3D printing methods, ”said the study’s other co-lead author, Chi Zhou , 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 National Institutes of Health as well as UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, according to the press release.
The idea of 3D printed organs still sounds like a future jumbo mumbo to me, but I believe you can eat it already 3D printed meat in a 3D printed house where you keep yours 3D printed gun, then the skies are the highest.