News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
GE Healthcare and Formlabs have entered into a partnership to increase the accessibility of 3D printed, patient-specific anatomical models. In the medical sector, patient-specific models based on medical imaging data have multiple uses, from practitioner training to surgical preparation to patient communications.
Smart International, under license from Eastman Kodak Company, has announced it will be supporting e-NABLE Medellin’s effort in Colombia by providing 3D printing hardware, materials and technical support. e-NABLE Medellin, a Colombian branch of the global e-NABLE organization which aims to provide free prosthetic hands to those in need, will use Smart International’s KODAK Portrait 3D printer to reach its goal of donating up to 35 prosthetics and assistive devices before the end of the year.
A 3D printed bionic hand can be made to measure thanks to engineers at WMG, University of Warwick and a collaboration of other companies. The 3D printed IMPACT bionic hand incorporates muscle sensors to control an articulated thumb, enabling it to function similar to a human hand. It can be made to measure in 10 hours in a choice of colors.
Formlabs has today made a series of announcements, including the acquisition of its primary materials supplier, Spectra Group Photopolymers LLC, and the establishment of a new business wholly dedicated to the growing dental market: Formlabs Dental.
Israeli ceramic 3D printing company XJet is bringing its innovative NanoParticle Jetting Technology (NPJ) to yet another customer: KU Leuven University in Belgium. The installation of the Carmel 1400 3D printer at the university marks the first time XJet’s technology has been adopted by a European academic institution. Fittingly, KU Leuven is one of Europe’s pioneering academic players in ceramics and AM.
Anouk Wipprecht, one of the best-known tech-fashion designers making intensive use of 3D printing technologies, has worked with “bionic” singer Viktoria Modesta on the latest Rolls Royce Campaign. Anouk has collaborated with Viktoria on several projects in the past, transforming the singer’s prosthetic leg in a stylish augmentation. This time the duo, along with director Jora Frantzis, and Dutch designer Rem D. Koolhaas (of UnitedNude), produced items for a performance art piece that embodies the essence of Rolls Royce’s Black Badge brand. One of the special items they created is a prosthetic limb with an electricity effect, wrought from Rolls Royce Black Badge carbon fiber.
Kuunda3D has been selected as the newly appointed distributor for Copper3D‘s antibaterial filament portfolio on African markets. Through their partner network and carefully established African network, Kuunda3D expects to make Copper3D products more accessible to more customers and more countries than ever before.
Plenum, a Brazil-based biomedical company, recently adopted two Lithoz CeraFab 7500 3D printers to support the production of next-gen bone implants. The purchase and installation marks an exciting step into Brazil’s AM industry for Lithoz, an Austrian specialist in high performance ceramic 3D printing.
DePuy Synthes, a medical device company owned by Johnson & Johnson, has expanded its range of 3D printed interbody implants for treating degenerative spine disease with the release of the CONDUIT Interbody Platform with EIT Cellular Titanium Technology.
PrinterPrezz, a California company specializing in combining metal 3D printing, nanotechnologies and surgical expertise to design and manufacture next-generation medical devices, revealed that work is currently ongoing on new spinal interbody fusion devices in collaboration with Osseus Fusion Systems, a Dallas-based medical device company focused on spine products.