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Category: 3D printing – Page 22

Scientists 3D-Print Hair Follicles in Lab-Grown Skin

The technique represents an important step in engineering skin grafts, drug testing. A team led by scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has 3D-printed hair follicles in human skin tissue cultured in the lab. This marks the first time researchers have used the technology to generate hair follicles, which play an important role in skin healing and function.

The finding, published in the journal Science Advances, has potential applications in regenerative medicine and drug testing, though engineering skin grafts that grow hair are still several years away.

“Our work is a proof-of-concept that hair follicle structures can be created in a highly precise, reproducible way using 3D-bioprinting. This kind of automated process is needed to make future biomanufacturing of skin possible,” said Pankaj Karande, Ph.D., an associate professor of chemical and biological engineering and a member of Rensselaer’s Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, who led the study.

This 3D printer can watch itself fabricate objects

With 3D inkjet printing systems, engineers can fabricate hybrid structures that have soft and rigid components, like robotic grippers that are strong enough to grasp heavy objects but soft enough to interact safely with humans.

These multimaterial 3D printing systems utilize thousands of nozzles to deposit tiny droplets of resin, which are smoothed with a scraper or roller and cured with UV light. But the smoothing process could squish or smear resins that cure slowly, limiting the types of materials that can be used.

Researchers from MIT, the MIT spinout Inkbit, and ETH Zurich have developed a new 3D inkjet printing system that works with a much wider range of materials. Their printer utilizes computer vision to automatically scan the 3D printing surface and adjust the amount of resin each nozzle deposits in real time to ensure no areas have too much or too little material.

3D printed robots with bones, ligaments, and tendons

3D printing is advancing rapidly, and the range of materials that can be used has expanded considerably. While the technology was previously limited to fast-curing plastics, it has now been made suitable for slow-curing plastics as well. These have decisive advantages as they have enhanced elastic properties and are more durable and robust.

The use of such polymers is made possible by a new technology developed by researchers at ETH Zurich and a US start-up. As a result, researchers can now 3D print complex, more durable robots from a variety of high-quality materials in one go. This new technology also makes it easy to combine soft, elastic, and rigid materials. The researchers can also use it to create delicate structures and parts with cavities as desired.

New 3D printing technology enables more durable and flexible robots

This opens up new possibilities for creating complex robots with soft and rigid materials in one go.

Thomas Buchner / ETH Zurich.

3D printing is a revolutionary technology that can create objects of any shape and size from various materials. However, until now, it was mostly limited to using fast-curing plastics, which have some drawbacks. They are brittle, prone to cracking, and lose their shape easily when bent.

New 3D printing approach offers hope for brain injury repair

The University of Oxford researchers for the first time showcased that neural cells can be 3D printed to replicate the structure of the brain’s outer layer: the cerebral cortex.

In a significant breakthrough, scientists have created brain tissue using human stem cells through 3D printing. This advancement holds promise for potential future applications in treating brain injuries.

For the first time, the University of Oxford researchers showcased that neural cells can be 3D printed to replicate the structure of the brain’s outer layer: the cerebral cortex.

This accomplishment marks a significant advancement in the realm of neural tissue engineering.

Lasers allow fine-tuning of 3D-printed metals without “heating & beating”

A team of researchers led by the University of Cambridge has developed a new technique that uses high-energy lasers to fine tune the properties of 3D-printed metal without compromising the complex shapes it forms.

Additive or 3D printing is proving an increasingly powerful tool for engineering and manufacturing, but it’s far from a panacea. In fact, it often has some major drawbacks that require new approaches to overcome.

3D printing metal usually involves a machine that lays down thin layers of metal alloy in the form of a fine powder. This layer is then melted or sintered using a laser or electron beam guided by a digital model, then another layer is added. When the printing is complete, the excess powder is swept away, revealing the final product.

Natural killer cells now have a better shot at destroying cancer

Researchers in South Korea developed a technique for encapsulating NK cells in a hydrogel that could be 3D printed into a porous shape and later implanted at the site of a removed tumor.⁠.

A new 3D-printing-based approach could unleash a cutting-edge immunotherapy against solid tumors, which account for 90% of all cancers.

Natural killers: Some immune system cells only know to attack a threat if they’ve encountered it at least once before (or been instructed to attack it by other cells that have). Natural killer (NK) cells, however, can recognize diseased cells the first time they cross paths with them — and then alert other members of the immune system, too.

This makes them a valuable first-line defense against illness, but, unfortunately, cancer cells multiply too fast and NK cells die too quickly for them to outright stop many cancers from spreading.

Hologram Zoo Is Real And Signals The Future

The number of Star Trek sci-fi technology that ultimately became real-life tech never ceases to amaze. The series inspired the development of touchscreens, communicators became mobile phones, PAADs became tablets, replicators became 3D printing, and now holodecks are becoming virtual and augmented realities (VRs and ARs). And while fully immersive environments like the holodeck still remain in the realm of sci-fi, a recent report from BBC on a hologram zoo indicates that the future isn’t so far-fetched when it comes to immersive holographic.

The holograms use a new depth technology that not only makes the animals seem big but makes them visible as 3D objects rather than suspended 2D images.

According to the report, the visitors of Australia’s Hologram Zoo, which opened earlier this year, can dodge stampeding elephants, peer into the gaping jaws of a hippopotamus, pet-friendly giraffes, and witness more than 50 lifelike displays from dinosaurs to gorillas—all crafted from concentrated beams of light.

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