3D Printing The Human Body - Ears, Noses, Kidneys, Veins, etc

We are certainly in some amazing times. More innovation is occurring in one year than did in 20 years when our parents were our age. Here is a look at all the ways 3D Printers will soon be able to print parts of us. From Noses to ears to Livers, to kidneys, to eyes, to skin, to bladders, 3D printing is changing our world and our bodies. Within the next decade we will see things that just 10 years ago were unimaginable. Here is an awesome infograph showing just what biologists are working on over the next few years:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-M...3dprinting.jpg

Nice graphic.

The University of Sydney is using a Hyrel unit to print with a bone slurry superfood mixture for orthopedic repairs. The print is fired in a kiln, and then the patient's osteocytes are introduced and start to grow. When the fixture is placed at the wound site, there is no rejection (since it is comprised of the donor's DNA) and recovery time is greatly diminished.

The University of Stuttgart has ordered a unit to print cartilage.

Here's the paper:

http://hyrel3d.net/papers/3D_Printed...e_Deficits.pdf

Quote:

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Sr-HT-Gahnite scaffolds were fabricated by printing the inks through a600 μm custom-made nozzle using a robotic deposition device (Hyrel 3D, USA).

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http://www.nature.com/articles/srep19468

Texas A&M is also doing biological research with our units:

http://hyrel3d.net/papers/Hydrogels_...ngineering.pdf

Quote:

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3D-printed nanocomposite gels were fabricated with fused deposition modeling. Prepolymer solutions containing 8%GelMA (80% methacrylation degree), 0.25% photoinitiator,and 2% nanosilicates, by weight, were mixed at elevated temperature and allowed to cool to room temperature beforeprinting. Solutions were loaded into a HYREL Engine 3D printer equipped with an EMO-25 emulsifiable extruder and a UVblocking, 22 AWG (200 μm) tapered dispensing tip (Fisnar). Acylinder model, h = 5 mm, diameter = 20 mm, was used as the physical template for printing. Slic3r v1.1.7 was used to createthe g-code for printing. The following settings were used for printing: printing speeds of 5 mm/s, nonprinting speeds of25 mm/s, layer thickness of 200 μm, infill of 50% (090,rectilinear grid), extrusion width of 1.0 mm, and no perimeters,top layers, or bottom layers. Constructs were subjected toUV light for the duration of the print (6 min and 50 s). The UV source consists of four UV LEDs (365 nm, 500 mW radiant flux)positioned at a 5 cm vertical distance and 2 cm radial distance from the printing nozzle. After printing, gels were subjected to an additional 5 min of cross-linking under the UV printing source

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