Explore the future of 3D printing in healthcare, from advancements in materials and technologies to its role in regenerative medicine and pharmaceuticals.

Human health can be potentially pushed to the limits with healthy, young, 3D-printed organs first heart transplanted fully functional is a reality. Eureka for all humans and the hard-working…

A woman from the Netherlands has been saved from a debilitating and lethal bone disorder thanks to a 3D printed skull implant.

Robots might be a little more appealing -- and more practical -- if they're not made of hard, cold metal or plastic, but of a softer material. Researcher at ...

3D printing is making leaps and bounds in its advancement, and through its journey forwards, this technology is taking many other technologies and applications forward along the way. As part of a series of articles, in this particular instalment, we look at the development of 3D printing technology as it has become suitable for more […]

The next time you visit the doctor’s office, you might see a 3D printer. Learn how doctor sare using in-house 3D printing to improve patient care.

Deniz Karahasin’s mindbending Osteoid cast looks like a thing from a sci-fi movie.

Using 3D printed organs for pre-planning complex surgical procedures is gaining a much wider acceptance and becoming far more commonplace than just a year ago. Doctors and hospitals all over...

Bioprinting has tremendous promise for doctors and patients and also opens doors to cosmetic surgery and food engineering innovations.

The recent, successful human implantation of a 3D-printed vertebra at Peking University in China captured the public’s imagination. I read the news (and its quick spread) as evidence that medical devices are dare I say, cool again.

Antimicrobial Material Could Help 3D-Printed Body Parts Resist Infection

When most people hear the phrases “additive manufacturing” or “3D printing”, they usually picture the technology being put to use in large factories, creating prototypes, or in someone’s garage who’s making...

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have come up with a new microneedle vaccine technology that allows for small vaccine patches to be created on demand using three-dimensional (3-D) printing machines.

Using 3-D printers to create skull implants or replacement joints is exciting; running off living organs would be revolutionary.

A new report published by technology research company IDTechEx has found that 3D printing is disrupting the way in which personalised medicine is provided. Shorter lead times, reduced waste and an opportunity for mass customisation are some of the benefits that 3D printing can offer the medical and dental industry, the firm said. In the latest IDTechEx Research report, 3D Printing in the Medical and Dental Industry 2019 – 2029, 3D printing in the medical and dental industry is estimated to be worth over $8.1bn by 2029. In the medical industry, 3D printing supports the production of a wide range of devices such as hearing aids and prosthetic limbs, which benefit from 3D printing’s capacity for mass customisation from 3D imaging data. Personalisation is particularly important for medical devices designed to be worn for long periods of time, as this can help improve patient comfort and adherence to the treatment. The adoption of 3D printing by hearing aid manufacturers was highlighted by the report as having made a huge impact on the industry as the method has streamlined and enhanced the manufacturing process.

In 2014, 3D printing burst onto the scene in fields ranging from medicine to music. Here's a look back at the best projects in 10 categories.

It’s not too often that you see a dental laboratory begin creating spinal implants, but that’s just what is about to happen at Attenborough Dental in Nottingham, England. Attenborough Dental...

The Verge is about technology and how it makes us feel. Founded in 2011, we offer our audience everything from breaking news to reviews to award-winning features and investigations, on our site, in video, and in podcasts.

The Oxford University technique uses droplets of chemicals to create artificial tissue (pictured) that can replace damaged cells in the body.

While several research teams and organizations are working to make bioprinting a reality, Organovo consistently appears to be at the head of the pack.

Early-stage experiments at North Carolina State University (NCSU) have yielded a new class of 3D printed smart material. Magnetically-reactive and mesh-like by design, this material could lead to future floating robots capable of drug delivery, or active scaffolds suitable for tissue engineering. At present, the 3D printed smart material is shown mimicking the movement of a water […]

While we still don't have a 3D printer in every home, use of the technology in medicine is becoming increasingly vital.

Not only was my last post over a month and a half ago, but I only posted once each in March, April and May. During that time you guys contin...

Imagine a world where the items you need or want can be created on demand. Simply turn to a computer, plug in a blueprint, fill the printer with a particular material, and in a matter

Scientists can now 3D print new parts of you.

3D Printing Industry reviews recent real world examples of 3D bioprinting and additive manufacturing methods in medicine. The use of 3D printing for surgical planning took another step forward recently, we look at the use of 3D printing for surgical planning by 3D Systems. We also see how 3D printed bone matter and cartilage for regenerative medicine research is […]

If there is any new hardware technology that would be making major inroads in our lives, it is the concept of 3D printing. Readers must have seen printers associated with computers that employ ink jets. In the printing action of these printers, the ink jets place extremely small droplets of ink onto paper to create an image. These droplets or dots when they dry up are extremely small, even smaller than the diameter of a human hair (70 microns)! Secondly, the dots are positioned very precisely, with resolutions of up to 1440 x720 dots per inch (dpi). To the naked eye the dots are indistinguishable and we see the whole page or picture. This simple 2D printing was extended to 3 D printing when a US company, 3D Systems, Inc. invented and patented stereolithography (also known as solid imaging) in mid-1980's. Those of you who are familiar with conventional manufacturing processes would know that it consists of processes by which an object is constructed by cutting (or "machining") raw material into a desired shape. 3 D printing works in exact opposite fashion. It is characterised as "additive" manufacturing in which means a solid, three-dimensional object is constructed by adding material in layers. To understand this process, let us consider a simple 3 D printer that is capable of creating plastic objects. Such printers incorporate a bioplastic (plastics derived from renewable biomass sources ) wire or filament mounted on a spool so that it can be easily drawn. When the printer is told to print something, it pulls the bioplastic filament through a tube and into an extruder, which heats it up and deposits it through a small hole and onto the build plate. Just like like an inkjet printer, the 3D printer too makes passes (much over the build plate, depositing layer on top of layer of material to create the finished product. This can take several hours or days depending on the size and complexity of the object. The average 3D-printed layer is approximately 100 microns or 0.1 millimeters. Throughout the process, the different layers are automatically fused to create a single three-dimensional object in a dots per inch (DPI) resolution. People have been manufacturing prototype plastic parts using such printers. Recently, I have reported how an astronaut on International space station got a specialized wrench printed out on the space station itself from software uploaded from earth. The technique is so easy to use that it opens up limitless opportunities of creating new things very easily. Mina Khan is a 2 year old girl from London. A defect in her heart was detected in the 26-week scan, during pregnancy, well before birth. After she was born, she looked fine but had only a 50% chance of living for which she needed breathing support. Mina was kept in the hospital for three months during which period, the little girl was sick a lot and did not put on weight. She hardly woke up and had to be fed through a nasal tube. She was born with a hole between two chambers of her heart. Doctors found her heart so much deformed that they thought that it just could not be repaired. The two heart chambers called ventricles are actually the two pumps that circulat blood to the heart and the lungs. Because of the hole, she felt constantly tired, sickly and unable to put on weight. Only possible cure in her case was effective patching of this hole. However her heart, she being just a two year old toddler, was so small that even a top class paediatric heart specialist surgeon, would have found it difficult, making the operation risky. It was here that Dr Gerald Greil, who has pioneered the use of the 3D-printing technique at St.Thomos Hospital in London, decided to try something new and path breaking. Mina's heart was fully scanned by Doctors in Manchester using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computerised tomography scans. Dr Greil segmented it out and got it into format using special software suitable for printing. In United states a new technique has been developed to create practice organs made from plastic from MRI scans of patients before actual surgery can be performed. Using similar procedure, Dr. Greil created an exact and precise copy of Mina's heart including its defect. The surgeons were thus able to see inside of her heart and the hole as it looked when the heart was pumping. This enabled them to exactly design a bespoke patch that could be stitched to Mina's heart. Professor David Anderson, who led the operating team, agrees that Mina had a 'very complex' hole in her heart and her case was a huge intellectual challenge. However, with the model, his team could go into the operation with a much better idea of what they would find. The operation turned out to be a success as Dr. David Anderson and his team managed to tailor the Gore-Tex patch stitched into Mina's heart. Mina's mother confirms that after the operation, Mina is eating for herself, she is not breathless and turning into a normal little girl. Dr. Greil's technique has certainly opened a new vista for such patients where operating on them is considered too risky. This has been possible only by use of 3D printing. 31st January 2015

Rapid advances in 3D printing are set to change everything from medicine to clothing. Australian scientists are using the technology to make long dreamed of projects possible, and it may not be long before bionic bras hit the shelves and 3D-printed organs become available. Amanda Smith reports.

Cells inside the BioPen, created by Australia's Wollongong University, are mixed with alginate and applied to gaps inside damaged bones in layers.

We have already seen numerous human tissues 3D printed in a process which has been call 3D bioprinting. Such technology promises to, in the long run, cure many ailments, regrow...

Researchers at Harvard University have managed to 3D print a functional heart on a chip that could eradicate the need for animal testing in biomedical studies. Microphysiological systems (MPS) otherwise known as organs-on-chips, have been around for some time now and researchers continue to develop new techniques using them to replicate the function of organs. […]

A team of Israeli scientists at Tel Aviv University 3D-printed a heart with a patient's own cells in a world first, researchers say.

While 3D Printing has attracted a great deal of attention from investors because of high growth projections, 3D Bioprinting has attracted investors because of its futuristic appeal. Some companies involved in 3D Bioprinting are raising eyebrows with their lofty ambitions, like private company Modern Meadow which is looking to 3D Print leather, or publicly traded

To say that 3D printing will improve our lives, is to state the obvious. There is little doubt against that line of argument. What most people struggle with, however, is in understanding how it can alter the lives of people in some notable day-to-day sense. As most people have abstract ideas about how the industry […]

Scientists hope the method will eventually replace donations.

Increasingly affordable and accessible, 3D printing is enabling the creation of everything from simple straw holders to prosthetic hands for people with disabilities, whose quality of life can be greatly enhanced with a little technology. These 12 creations help the blind visualize memories, allow kids with muscular dystrophy to play video games, and even restore - Page 2

We share so many of the ups and downs of life with our pets, who love us unconditionally. We share the joy of recreation and quiet solitude with our fur-covered...

I’ve only ever broken a bone once, and it was relatively minor: a fractured wrist due to a sixth-grade softball accident. Even that small fracture was incredibly painful, so I...