We may not have flying cars yet, but 3D organs? The scientific fantasy has come just one step closer to reality thanks to a fast-paced 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 demonstrated in the honest disturbing poison above. This expedited footage shows how a 3D printer 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 it works with large sample sizes that were previously very difficult to achieve,” said Ruogang Zhao, associate professor of biomedicine. engineering at the university, in a press release Friday.
The process is based on stereolithography, a long-standing 3D printing method that uses lasers to harden liquid resin, and conductive substances called hydrogeil, which can absorb large amounts of water without dissolving. Hydrogels are commonly used in commercial products such as contact lenses, adhesives, and disposable cloths, although scientists are also potentially experimenting with them biomedical treatments.
According to researchers, this method is particularly suitable for the correct printing of all the tiny details in cells with embedded vascular networks, something that is expected to play a critical role in the eventual production of 3D-printed human tissues and organs.
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‘Our method allows for the rapid pressure of hydrogel models of centimeters in size. This significantly reduces the deformation of parts and cellular injuries due to the prolonged exposure to the environmental stress that you normally see with conventional 3D printing methods, ” said co-lead author Chi Zhou. .
The team’s research was funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, 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 to me like futuristic mumbo-jumbo, but if you can already eat, I assume 3D printed meat in a 3D printed house where do you like 3D printed rifle, then the air is the limit.