Rapid Manufacturing of bio-compatible materials is taking off in a big way. If researchers aren’t developing new ways to use a Reprap to create veins or printing prothetics beaks for Bald Eagles, they’re exploring avenues to perfect the art of making organs. Is this a harbinger for things to come? We hope so. Hey Solidworks, we want features for parametric organs in SW 2014!
Because Every ‘Body’ has Unique Needs
This new technique was developed by ‘Nano-engineers’ at the UC San Diego, funded by a very big $1.5 million grant from the National Institute of Health. Called Dynamic Optical Projection Stereolithography (DOPsL), it uses a computer projection system and precision micromirrors to selectively cure a vat of bio-compatible photopolymer. The end result? Highly detained structures that can be used as scaffolding for stem-cells to propagate and form organs. Trés cool!
They’re concentrating on ways to create vasculature because most organ printing is completely useless without a blood supply. Although groups like the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine have printed bladders that have been transplanted into people, 3D Printing more complex items like your Liver are far off. Or are they? The money is there – the Obama Administration is pumping lots of money in additive manufacturing, betting big on its benefits. One of which includes CAD and PLM systems. And everyone in the industry.
CAD Needs to Catch Up?
How would one ‘design’ an organ for human transplant? There are options for scanning organs and reproducing them, as one person from Objet told me at the SW2013 launch. Maybe it will be all about 3D Scanning your organ, fixing them up and reprinting them. Or maybe a bottom-up approach, where each organ is designed to ‘fit’ the patient. In that case, parametric CAD might be a realistic option, where CAD specialists input figures into software like weight, blood pressure, etc. to generate the optimal design. This is all far-off … probably next week. And nothing ages quicker than predictions of the future (anyone read OMNI?).
Source: UC San Diego
