Maybe we don’t have flying cars yet, but 3D printed organs? This science fiction fantasy is one step closer to reality thanks to a fast 3D printing method developed by engineers at the University at Buffalo.
Her 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. These accelerated images show a 3D printer completely building 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 that have been very difficult to achieve before,” said study co-author Ruogang Zhao. associate professor of biomedical engineering at the university, a a press release Friday.
The process is based on stereolithography, a long-standing 3D printing method that uses lasers to harden liquid resin and gelatin-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 them in potential biomedical treatments.
According to the researchers, this method is especially suitable for properly printing all the small details in cells with embedded blood vessel networks, which is expected to play a key role in the eventual production of 3D-printed human tissues and organs.
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“Our method allows the fast impressesion of models of hydrogel of size centimeter. Significantly reduces part deformation and cell damage caused by prolonged exposure to environmental stresses that you commonly see in conventional 3D printing methods, ”said Chi Zhou, another co-author of the study. , 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 mumbo jumbo to me, but I guess if you can already eat Meats printed in 3D in a 3D printed house where you keep yours 3D printed gun, then the sky is the limit.