News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
Additive manufacturing solutions provider Eplus3D entered a partnership with Austrian industry experts HAGI and ISG Dental. Both partners have extensive experience in their respective industries and will therefore help to find suitable process solutions for local customers.
Researchers from the Buchmann Institute for Molecular Life Sciences at Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, have used the microArch S140, a microscale 3D printer from Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF), to help fabricate miniaturized vessels called hydrowells for culturing 3D cellular spheroids under microgravity conditions. The effort was part of the Spheroid Aggregation and Viability in Space, or SHAPE, experiment, which is supported by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and will be performed aboard the International Space Station (ISS), where scientific research is performed in low-earth orbit.
3D Systems and Saremco Dental AG entered a strategic partnership to accelerate innovation in digital dentistry. This effort brings together the power of 3D Systems’ industry-leading NextDent digital dentistry solution with Saremco’s materials science expertise – enabling dental laboratories and clinics to address a variety of indications with unparalleled accuracy, repeatability, productivity, and lower total cost. To facilitate these capabilities, the companies are also announcing the immediate availability of CROWNTEC material to be used with 3D Systems’ NextDent 5100 dental 3D printer and industry-leading software for the production of patient-specific permanent crowns.
A London man has reportedly become the first person in the world to be fitted with a 3D printed prosthetic eye.
A Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust patient was the first person in the world to be supplied solely with a fully digital 3D printed prosthetic eye on 25 November 2021. He first tried his eye on 11 November alongside a traditional acrylic prosthetic. By going home on 25 November with just his printed eye, he is the first patient to use a 3D printed eye as their sole prosthetic.
Stratasys continues to enhance anatomic modeling solutions for healthcare providers through the introduction of a new software module, Digital Anatomy Creator, for Stratasys Digital Anatomy 3D Printers. The new software allows users to easily manipulate material formations and customize the internal structures of their prints to achieve patient-specific anatomic models that are a direct replication of a patient’s pathologic and biologic anatomy.
PrinterPrezz and Uniformity Labs have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to utilize Uniformity’s technology in laser powder bed fusion and binder jetting for medical device applications.
Advancements in additive manufacturing have the potential to significantly improve health care, allowing for surgical implants to be custom designed for each patient. Lauren Judkins, a graduate student in the Penn State Department of Mechanical Engineering, is adapting these advancements to enhance the recovery of patients who experienced rib injuries.“To create designs specifically for each unique patient, 3D printing is a necessity,” Judkins said. “I’m really motivated by the impacts my work could have on human health in the future.”
Formlabs is the first 3D printing company listed in a major group purchasing organization (GPO) catalog, demonstrating the increasing demand for 3D printed surgical tools and medical supplies in hospitals and Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs). Formlabs received a contract from Vizient, the largest member-driven healthcare GPO in the nation, to offer its 3D printers, materials, and solutions for converting CT/MR imaging into tactile, patient-specific anatomical replicas for surgical planning, implant sizing, and patient consent. The contract provides negotiated pricing, terms and conditions for Vizient member healthcare organizations.
Medical device manufacturers Nvision Biomedical Technologies and Watershed Idea Foundry have received FDA clearance for what is reportedly the world’s first 3D printed titanium anterior cervical plate.