Another breakthrough in 3D printing technology?


The recent breakthrough in the field of stem cell technology is that, for the first time, researchers developed a customized low-cost 3D printer to print electronics on a real hand. This technology could be used by soldiers on the battlefield to print temporary sensors on their bodies to detect chemical or biological agents or solar cells to charge essential electronics which will be one of the driving factors. Researchers also successfully printed biological cells on the skin wound of a mouse where the principle of the technique lies in developing new medical treatments for wound healing and direct printing of grafts for skin disorders.

One of the major advancement of the new 3D-printing technique is that this printer can adjust to small movements of the body during printing. The skin is scanned by placing temporary markers on the skin. The printer uses computer vision to adjust to movements in real-time. This 3D-printing technique also includes a rare feature where it uses a specialized ink that is composed of silver flakes which can conduct current at room temperature and also cure the wound. This makes the 3D-print different from other 3D-printing inks that need to cure at high temperatures (up to 100 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit) which will obviously burn the hand. To remove the electronics, the person can use a simple method by peeling off the electronic device with tweezers or wash it off with water. The new 3D-printing technique paves the way for many other applications, where some of the skin diseases can be cured by printing the cells on the damaged part. Researchers also successfully developed a bio ink to print cells on a mouse skin wound, which could lead to advanced medical treatments for those with skin diseases.

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