3D Printing For the Hearing Impaired

One of 3D printings greatest strengths is its ability to make customized, one-off products on the fly. In a traditional manufacturing paradigm, creating customizable products is an expensive if not impossible affair. So it should come as no surprise that the medical industry has been dramatically impacted by 3D printing.    While not technically a… Continue reading 3D Printing For the Hearing Impaired

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Would You 3D Print Your Foetus?

We all know what happens to 3D data: a 3D print emerges soon afterwards. Now a Japanese company has taken 3D information from a medical scanner to enable the production of 3D prints of an unborn foetus.    The process involves a 3D scan of the pregnant customer to capture the required 3D information, including… Continue reading Would You 3D Print Your Foetus?

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3D Printed Eyeglass Frames

Sandra Battistel of Eyespectacle (the “Story behind the frame”) has done a bit of investigation on how eyeglass maker Mykita recently produced the “Mylon”, a unique frame design made through 3D printing.    Battistel takes us through the process used by Mykita, including images of the equipment and frames through the production process. It appears… Continue reading 3D Printed Eyeglass Frames

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3D Printing Makes a Soldier Walk Again

One of the several tragedies of global conflict is those permanently maimed by explosions and weapons fire. One UK soldier, shot “above and through the knee”, has been unable to recover despite several reconstructive surgeries.    But now there’s new hope through the use of advanced 3D scanning, 3D printing and new surgical techniques.   … Continue reading 3D Printing Makes a Soldier Walk Again

Printing Vascular Structures

While rapid prototyping of mechanical parts is still the mainstay of 3D printing, recent adoption of the technology by biomedical researchers has sparked interest in how additive manufacturing might be used in the future.   Doug Hendrie at Gizmag recently profiled a new advancement that couples 3D printing with tissue engineering.   Read More at… Continue reading Printing Vascular Structures

Emma’s Story… And More

A wonderful story emerged last week when Stratasys published the story of Emma, a young girl with congenital biomechanical problems. She was unable to raise food to her mouth, among other issues.   The story told how Emma’s doctors used 3D printing technology (from Stratasys) to produce a custom-fit armature that fits around Emma’s upper… Continue reading Emma’s Story… And More

3D Printing Sugary Blood Vessels

A new breakthrough in medical 3D printing: researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a method of creating living tissue using 3D printing technology.    The researchers were concerned with the limitations of current bioprinting techniques, which are able to print layers of living tissue, but are less able to create the necessary  vasculature… Continue reading 3D Printing Sugary Blood Vessels

Foundation Offers Help and Hope to Victims of Orthopedic Trauma

The Foundation for Orthopedic Reconstruction (FOR) is the culmination of two years of planning that heralds an exciting undertaking for the orthopedic and additive manufacturing communities. FOR was developed with a dual mission: To provide patient-specific medical implants at no cost to those in need and to encourage and fund innovative research within the orthopedic… Continue reading Foundation Offers Help and Hope to Victims of Orthopedic Trauma

Print a Chocolate Brain!

They didn’t actually print a chocolate brain, rather the team from Inition took MRI scan data from their founder Andy Millins and created a 3D model. Once you have a 3D model, as readers know well, you can do some 3D printing.    In this case the team created detailed 3D model of the brain… Continue reading Print a Chocolate Brain!

A 3D Printed Jaw

This was bound to happen: a person receives a transplant of a major body part made specifically for them by 3D printing technology.    In this case the body part was the lower jaw of an 83 year old woman from Europe, which had become infected and required removal. 3D scanning techniques captured the precise… Continue reading A 3D Printed Jaw

Neurosurgeons Are 3D Printing

There’s nothing like being able to hold something in your hand and inspect it. You can look from all angles close or far and can use your sense of touch to aid in understanding completely what you’ve got.   That’s exactly the approach Hawaiian neurosurgeons at the Tripler Army Medical Centre are taking. They’re able… Continue reading Neurosurgeons Are 3D Printing

Engineering Organs?

Wake Forest researcher Dr. Anthony Atala recently spoke on CBC’s science podcast Quirks and Quarks about his work in the almost unbelievable science of engineering organs. His team is actually able to manufacture several types of biological organs. While this is still at the research stage, it could lead to a future where replacement parts… Continue reading Engineering Organs?

Probing Knut’s 3D Brain

Berlin Zoo’s most famous resident, the polar bear banned Knut, died suddenly this past March. Apparently the bear, famous for controversy surrounding the practice of humans raising bear cubs, had an infection that led to encephalitis and accidental drowning.    While Knut is gone, his brain lives on. It’s been captured in 3D by “some… Continue reading Probing Knut’s 3D Brain

Tissue Engineered

While there have been several experiments attempting to achieve the almost unbelievable feat of printing actual human organs, there has been a breakthrough development by researchers at Cornell. The title of their paper tells it all: “Direct Freeform Fabrication of Seeded Hydrogels in Arbitrary Geometries”. Ok, maybe that’s not entirely clear. Here’s how we’d interpret… Continue reading Tissue Engineered

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Human Organ Printing

We ran across a fascinating video showing a bio-printing concept being researched at the Biophysics Lab of the University of Missouri-Columbia. According to Dr. Gabor Forgacs, they will be able to replicate human parts by creating new organs cell by cell in a manner similar to everyday 3D printing.  Here’s how it works:   “Spheroidal… Continue reading Human Organ Printing

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Objet is Certified

Objet Geometries, makers of the powerful Alaris, Eden and Connex lines of commercial 3D printers just announced they’ve managed to receive ISO 13485:2003 certification. This certification means Objet is now able to deliver various types of 3D printing equipment into a wide variety of medical roles. We’ve seen Objet dabble in dental before but this… Continue reading Objet is Certified

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Managing Strokes with 3D Printing

Leslie Langau tells an amazing story of how a 3D printer was used to treat stroke patients. Professor Robert Rennaker II at the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University of Texas in Dallas has been doing experiments simulating the various disabilities of stroke victims.   … Continue reading Managing Strokes with 3D Printing

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Bespoke Makes Legs – Beautiful Legs

We’ve been waiting for something just like this: a startup company that takes full advantage of 3D printing technology to mass personalize an item for everyone. In the case of Bespoke Innovations, they supply one-of-a-kind prosthetics for individuals by leveraging 3D print technology from 3D Systems with an artistic flair:    The Bespoke process is… Continue reading Bespoke Makes Legs – Beautiful Legs

Objet Organizes a Dental System

3D printer manufacturer Objet has joined dental scanning provider 3Shape to create an integrated workflow solution specifically for dental restorations. The solution links 3D models produced by 3Shape’s dentist-focused scanning equipment and software directly into Objet’s Eden 3D printers. According to Avi Cohen, Head of Medical Solutions at Objet Geometries, the solution:    includes special… Continue reading Objet Organizes a Dental System

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Print Some Legs and Make Them Whole Again

One of the most interesting applications of 3D printing is medical uses. We’ve written about many different medical applications, ranging from printed tissue, to replacement bones. Today we ran across Alison Lewis’s wonderful post describing her experience encountering custom printed prosthetics for amputees.    The procedure was to scan the patient’s surviving leg and through… Continue reading Print Some Legs and Make Them Whole Again

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EOS Focuses on Medical Applications

Commercial Laser Sintering giant EOS has been focusing on the medical market recently, using their SLS expertise to produce a variety of solutions.    EOS uses several plastic approaches, including laser-sintered nylon for “disposable, customized operating devices such as drill guides for knee and hip replacements”. They’re also developing “PEEK HP3”, which is a “a… Continue reading EOS Focuses on Medical Applications

3D Bone Puzzle: Solved

There’s some interesting work taking place at the British Royal Infirmary, where 3D technology is being used to improve the process of rebuilding highly complex joint fractures.    These complex fractures are very difficult to repair due to the myriad of tiny pieces that must be precisely placed back in their original locations in order… Continue reading 3D Bone Puzzle: Solved

3D Printing Aids Biohacking

These days people are fiddling with anything that can be made digital, and one of the more interesting digitizations recently is biology! DNA, those tiny molecular strands that define us all, are increasingly being investigated by, well, hackers. BBC News reports on this phenomenon, which has grown recently aided by technological developments.    The idea… Continue reading 3D Printing Aids Biohacking

Changing Prosthetics Forever

Daniel Terdiman of CNET news writes a long article describing how 3D printing is “changing prosthetics forever”. We’ve written several articles in this area over the past two years, and now it’s become visible in CNET.    Terdiman explains how the combination of amputee soldiers’ needs, 3D scanning, 3D printing and individual manufacturing have opened… Continue reading Changing Prosthetics Forever

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Dental Scanning

We’ve all been to the dentist (you have gone, haven’t you?) and from time to time we need to get replacement teeth or portions thereof. The dentist makes you bite into rubber or plastic moulds to capture the 3D shape of the required parts and then sends it off for custom manufacturing. But Is there… Continue reading Dental Scanning

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Medical 3D is Contagious

Objet’s 3D printers seem to be taking hold in various medical applications, according to information passed our way. Here are four interesting approaches: Biorep Technologies creates tools for diabetes researchers and has created a “Pinch Valve” for indexing fluids and avoiding contamination of equipment and fluids, as well as a silicone membrane petri dish Arch… Continue reading Medical 3D is Contagious

Biomedical Solutions Materialise

We ran across an interesting video that talks about Materialise’s ventures into the medical manufacturing space. We’ve posted about medical uses of 3D print tech before, but Materialise specializes in this niche, and have for quite some time. Materialise produces 3D software specifically designed for this market: Mimics, which can transform medical 2D CT or… Continue reading Biomedical Solutions Materialise

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Human Brain!

  Admit it: you did something wrong sometime in your life and someone told you: “Get a brain!” Well, now you can! A recent .STL upload to the Thingiverse model repository does just that. It’s a 3D model of an actual human brain! Now before you speculate on exactly *how* Jordan Miller obtained this anatomical… Continue reading Human Brain!

3D-Bioplotter

  envisionTEC produces a rather unique device called the “3D-Bioplotter”. No, it does not print small mammals. Instead, it produces scaffolds. What are scaffolds? Tissue engineering often requires a “scaffold” on which to grow living tissue, otherwise, we assume, you’d end up with misshapen blobs of living goo. The scaffolds represent the desired final shape… Continue reading 3D-Bioplotter

More Metal – This Time Saving Lives!

Both ProMetal and Sintef have been working on metal printing processes, quite different from traditional plastics and powders of other 3D print processses. One of the barriers to more common use of 3D printing (aside from cost and print time) is the robustness of the printed objects. If only they could be printed in something… Continue reading More Metal – This Time Saving Lives!

Print Your Baby!

  Most women would expect to proceed normally through their pregnancy, but perhaps a few 3D geek fathers would prefer to print their baby instead. Faster, safer, choice of materials, etc. Now it turns out you can actually do this! Well, in plastic or bronze at least. The London Ultrasound Centre in the UK offers… Continue reading Print Your Baby!

The 3D Printer in You

No, we’re not suggesting there’s a ZCorp 510 next to your left kidney. But there ARE 3D printers inside of you. Many of them. That’s a least the analogy suggested by Phun Yan Yan, guest blogger for the NUS School of Computing in his article “Biology for Computer Scientists”. He proposes: This predefined sequence of… Continue reading The 3D Printer in You

Organ Printing Pondered

  We encountered several reports dealing with the fantastic idea of printing human organs using 3D printing technology. The premise is to deposit cells in the appropriate shape. Various prototypes have been attempted, including  liver tissue, branched vascular trees and cartilage. The bad news is that the experts predict it could be decades before such… Continue reading Organ Printing Pondered

3D Tissue Printer Video

  We bumped into a rather interesting video explaining and actually showing the process of using a 3D printer to deposit live cells! The video explains the main issue with tissue deposition: lack of a scaffold causes the deposited cells to lack structural integrity; they flop all over.   The 3D printer enables them to… Continue reading 3D Tissue Printer Video

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Can We Print a Human?

That’s the question being considered by Duncan Graham-Rowe of New Scientist. The premise is whether the components that make up each of us can be replaced using modern technology. Replacement bones are discussed, and as we’ve talked about before, they are a very good candidate for 3D print technology: they are relatively small 3D objects… Continue reading Can We Print a Human?

The Tooth Fabber

This one is so obvious we didn’t even think of it until mjarkiver wrote up his recent experience at the dentist. We’ve all been there before, where a section of a tooth is to be replaced. Typically, the remaining surface on the tooth is prepped by leveling and smoothing. Then a mold is obtained by… Continue reading The Tooth Fabber