The translucent device replicates the structure and function of an actual heart. The integrated sensors enable scientists to more quickly gather data as the tissues mature to study the effects of disease and toxins on the heart over time. The heart-on-a-chip offers to make drug testing safer. It also is a promising alternative to animal testing.
The 3D printed devise provide a less expensive and time consuming alternative to the current method of creating organs on a chip in clean rooms. That process involves a complex multi-step lithographic process and data collection through microscopy or high speed cameras.
Jennifer Lewis, co-author of the research paper that was published in Nature Materials journal, said of the achievement, “We are pushing the boundaries of three-dimensional printing by developing and integrating multiple functional materials within printed devices. This study is a powerful demonstration of how our platform can be used to create fully functional, instrumented chips for drug screening and disease modeling.”
The Harvard breakthrough underscores the potential for 3D printing to dramatically improve drug testing. In the future, researchers may be able to design organs-on-chips that have properties of a specific disease or even those that match a person’s cells.
3D revolutionizes prosthetics
While 3D printing has the potential to make medical testing and treatment safer and more personal, there already is a host of other ways that the technology is revolutionizing healthcare. Prosthetics is an area where 3D printing is delivering affordable solutions that can be customized for the individual. Previously, a commercially made prosthetic could cost anywhere from $5000 or $10,000 upwards to $60,000. Today one can be made for a few hundred dollars or less.
Already organizations are seizing on the technology. One group e-NABLE is a global web-based community of volunteers who are using their 3D printers, design skills, and personal time to create free 3D printed prosthetic hands to provide to underserved populations around the world. Limbitless Solutions is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing children with 3D-printed bionic limbs at affordable costs.
Scientists at Princeton University have used 3D printing tools to create a bionic ear merging electronics with tissue. The functional ear can “hear” radio frequencies that are far beyond the range of normal human capability, according to the University. And last year, a Sydney neurosurgeon made history in medicine by successfully replacing two cancerous vertebrae from a patient’s neck with a 3D custom-made prosthesis. The surgeon was able to remove the tumor and the top two vertebrae and replace them with the 3D printed body part made from titanium.
3D provides the perfect fit from head to toe
Already commercially available 3D printed eyewear is on the market to make glasses more customized and personalized. Not only do the glasses better fit an individual’s facial features; they can be designed to suit someone’s style. Companies also are exploring the use of 3D printing for custom contact lenses.
It’s not only eyewear that is reaping the benefits of 3D printing; footwear is, too. Sportswear giant Nike is working on the use of 3D printers from HP to develop custom midsoles. Superfeet, a provider of insole to retailers, and HP are working on the development of an in-store 3D scanning solution enabling 3D printed insoles.
In another major step forward for customized healthcare products, Johnson & Johnson and HP are collaborating to employ 3D printing technologies to create better health care outcomes at reduced costs. The companies are combining their scientific, clinical, material science and technological expertise, and deep insights to develop products and solutions which can be manufactured quickly and customized to the needs of an individual patient or consumer. Near-term the collaboration will focus on personalization of instrumentation and software for patient-specific healthcare devices. The collaboration should also lead to innovation in orthopedics, eye health and consumer products and more.
These are just some of the applications of 3D for healthcare. The possibilities are truly limitless. With a growing and aging population, that’s a very good thing.
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