3D printing in healthcare Archives - Perfect 3D Printing Filament

3D Printing Webinar and Virtual Event Roundup, July 7, 2020

We’ve got plenty of 3D printing webinars and virtual events to tell you about for this coming week, starting with nScrypt’s webinar today. 3Ding and Formlabs will each hold a webinar tomorrow, July 8th, and 3D Systems is hosting a virtual event on the 8th. There are two more webinars on July 9th, by KEX Knowledge Exchange and ASME, and Additive Industries is holding a virtual event that day. Finally, a 3D Health Hackathon will take place starting July 10th.

nScrypt’s Cutting Edge of Digital Manufacturing Webinar

On June 30th, nScrypt held the first of a two-part Cutting Edge Digital Manufacturing webinar series, and is holding the second part today, July 7th, at 1 pm ET. In part two of “Pushing the Envelope of Digital Manufacturing,” the speakers will be Eric D. Wachsman, PhD, from the University of Maryland; Eduardo Rojas, PhD, with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Hjalti Sigmarsson, PhD, from Oklahoma University; and Craig Armiento, PhD, with the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Topics of discussion in this webinar include the use of metamaterials, building radio frequency devices, systems, and the first 3D/volumetric electrical circuits and antennas, and the state of the art of 3D manufacturing. Register here.

3DIng “Let’s Talk 3D Printing” Webinar

Indian 3D printer manufacturer 3Ding recently began holding a weekly webinar about 3D printing-related topics, such as SketchUp training, different types of 3D printing, OpenSCAD, slicing, applications in rapid prototyping, and how to choose a 3D printer. Tomorrow, July 8th, the topic of the weekly webinar will be “Live Demo of FabX, Hydra Series 3D Printers & AMA.”

Surendranath Reddy, the founder, CEO, and CTO of 3Ding, is leading the remote webinar session, which will take place at 6:30 am ET and last about 45 minutes. You can join the session here.

Webinar on Formlabs’ New Materials

Formlabs recently launched two new materials, Flexible 80A and Elastic 50A resins, which allows customers to make soft, flexible parts with ease. In a webinar on July 8th at 2:00 pm ET, attendees will get to learn all about these resins with the company’s Materials Product Manager Kathy But and webinar specialist Faris Sheikh. Topics will include when to use these materials, optimal applications, 3D printing material properties like spring back, tensile strength, and shore durometer, and the Ross Flex Test.

“To make soft and flexible parts with traditional methods, such as RTV moldmaking, can be a lengthy process. If you’ve also tried directly 3D printing flexible parts, you probably know there’s not many high performing materials available. That is now changing.

“With the launch of our Flexible 80A and Elastic 50A Resins, you’ll be able to easily fabricate flexible parts that are both soft and hard.”

3D Systems’s Virtual Tradeshow

3D Systems is holding a virtual event on July 8th in order to teach attendees how to transform their manufacturing workflows. There will be a keynote address, networking opportunities, multiple live webinars, and even a virtual exhibition hall. The company will provide examples of digital manufacturing solution workflows with plastic and metal additive manufacturing, subtractive manufacturing, and on-demand services.

“Businesses are focused on lowering risk, resolving supply chain dependencies, streamlining supplier distribution and avoiding interruptions to supply access.

“Join 3D Systems at this exclusive virtual event to find out how Digital Manufacturing Solutions designed for today’s production needs, enable you to integrate additive and subtractive technologies into your manufacturing environment and workflow — providing increased agility, quicker lead times, improved productivity, and allowing you to offer new innovations to your customers.”

All presentations will be in English, and available on-demand for 30 days. Register here.

KEX Knowledge Exchange on Powder Bed Fusion

KEX Knowledge Exchange AG, a former spinoff of Fraunhofer IPT, offers technology consulting. As a service to its industrial and research partners, the company also has a web platform that offers over 7,000 profiles of AM technologies and materials, in addition to industry news, and has now launched a section devoted to webinars, with topics including post-processing and powder bed fusion (PBF) 3D printing.

“Together with one of our appreciated network partners, the ACAM Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing, we now launched a webinar section,” Jun Kim Doering, a technical writer with KEX, told 3DPrint.com. “Due to the COVID19 situation, ACAM has shifted their focus to an online offering, including webinars on different aspects of the AM technologies and applications.”

The first, “Webinar Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) – Advanced insights into Process, Parameters & Hardware,” will take place this Thursday, July 9th, and Erik Feldbaum, ACAM Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing, will speak. It’s free for ACAM members, and will cost €175 for non-members.

ASME on 3D Printing in Hospitals

AM Medical, powered by ASME International, will be holding a free, live webinar this Thursday, July 9th, on “Building the Business Case for 3D Printing in Hospitals.” Point-of-care manufacturing leaders will discuss necessary skills, where to find the proper resources, how to address reimbursement, and other important questions during the hourlong session, from 4-5 pm ET. Speakers are Andy Christensen, the President of Somaden; Jonathan Morris, MD, Neuroradiologist and Director of the Mayo Clinic’s 3D Printing Anatomic Modeling Lab; Beth Ripley, MD, Assistant Professor of Radiology with VA Puget Sound; Justin Ryan, Research Scientist at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego; and Formlabs’ Director of Healthcare Gaurav Manchanda.

“The ability to manufacture from the patient’s data (medical imaging or surface scan) has been compelling to a community always looking for ways to innovate. With improving patient care as the primary goal, 3D printing has directly impacted more than 1 million patients. More than 25 years ago, anatomical models began to be used for planning of complex surgical procedures. Today, hospitals are using the technology for surgical guides and more. With increasing numbers of hospitals looking to bring 3D printing into their facility, how are they building the business case?”

Additive Industries Hosting Digital Event

On July 9th and 10th, Additive Industries is getting the trade show season running again with what it calls “a corona-proof way to get out of the starting blocks.” At its two-day virtual event, attendees can visit the company’s digital booth, view presentations, and talk to the experts to learn more about the MetalFAB1 3D printer and how the company can help turn your ideas into reality…all without traveling or waiting in line.

“While the virtual domain has limitless possibilities, we still live in the physical world. With our exclusive industry additive manufacturing event – we are making the virtual world a reality.”

3D Health Hackathon

The Jersey City Rapid Maker Response Group (JCRMRG), a volunteer collective in New Jersey, is hosting a virtual Community Health Hackathon this week in order to foster community entrepreneurship and take on sustainability, supply chain, and manufacturing challenges that are related to healthcare and PPE (personal protective equipment) during COVID-19. There are three categories: sustainable PPE, modular solution labs, and day-to-day PPE, and the deadline to register is this Friday, July 10, at 12 pm ET. Panelists will meet the nine judges during a Zoom call that night to present their ideas, and then the next two days will be spent hacking. The final submission deadline is July 13th at 9 am, and winners will be announced on July 16th.

“Throughout the COVID-19 health crisis healthcare workers faced critical shortages in PPE created by supply chain disruptions and shortages. Jersey City Rapid Maker Response Group, as well as other groups like them around the country, proved that by quickly deploying 3D-printing capabilities and then extending those capabilities through rapid manufacturing – they were able to scale from producing 1,000 face shields a week to 10,000 face shields a day, both at a fraction of traditional pricing.

“We have reached out to leaders in the tech, manufacturing and 3D-printing communities to form a community-led virtual make-athon. Our collective goal is to continue to bring bright minds together to develop 3D-printing, manufacturing and community-based engineering solutions to address the ongoing needs surrounding supply chain disruptions in emergent and healthcare settings.”

The current prize pool is valued at over $7,500, so what are you waiting for? Register for the hackathon here.

Will you attend any of these events and webinars, or have news to share about future ones? Let us know! Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the comments below.

The post 3D Printing Webinar and Virtual Event Roundup, July 7, 2020 appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Finland: 3D Printing Patient-Specific Doses of Warfarin for Children

Finnish researchers reach further into the potential of 3D printed medications, outlining their findings in the recently published ‘Towards Printed Pediatric Medicines in Hospital Pharmacies: Comparison of 2D and 3D Printed Orodispersible Warfarin Films with Conventional Oral Powders in Unit Dose Sachets.’

Researchers continue to seek ways to prevent error in the dispensing of medications, along with offering more patient-specific, on-demand services in healthcare—with an even further sense of urgency to find better ways to treat children. In this study, the scientific team compared traditional techniques in preparing doses of warfarin—a commonly used blood thinner—at HUS Pharmacy in Finland with two new methods for dealing with pediatric dosage.

Experimenting with both semisolid extrusion 3D printing and inkjet printing, the researchers created samples of orodispersible films (ODFs) for a range of prescription strengths, at 0.1, 0.5, 1, and 2 mg.

Treating children can be challenging due to the obvious differences in size and weight, and the seriousness of an overdose. The dosages presented for the study are meant for infants aged 6 to 23 months and preschool children aged 2 to 6 years, with the ODFs composed of thin films that disintegrate quickly upon sticking to the tongue, with no water required. This is one benefit to making medication more enticing to kids, but aesthetic preferences are a considering too—especially for children—in terms of color, size, and taste.

“The different sizes for the EXT ODFs were designed to increase in volume in the same ratio as the dose escalation in order to enable the use of the same printing solution for manufacturing of all sizes. The final sizes of the IJP ODFs were designed to be equal to the sizes designed for the EXT,” stated the researchers.

Designed geometries for the ODFs

The team used a Biobots 1 printer to fabricate both placebo and drug-loaded ODFs, with films created on transparent sheets. The films were printed in three different batches, evaluated daily. For inkjet printing, the team used a PixDro LP50 piezoelectric printer with 128 nozzles, and a camera to monitor the jetted droplets.

“One printing run resulted in 32 printed films of a certain size that were allowed to dry in ambient conditions overnight and subsequently cut with a scalpel according to a template in order to obtain the final size,” stated the researchers.

Individual sachets were created, weighing 200 mg each, with three batches per dose size produced over three days. Drug concentration depended on the ‘wet weight’ of printed placebos and target doses. The samples and dosages were weighed after EXT printing, offering QA methods that could be used in a hospital setting.

“One discovered drawback with the used EXT printer was that it was difficult to attain the set pressure and even during printing of a single ODF the pressure would typically fluctuate. As pressure is one of the most important parameters to determine how much material is deposited per unit time, it may result in ODFs with fluctuating drug amount,” discussed the researchers. “Other factors to consider when using an EXT 3D printer is that the distance between the syringe tip and the build platform will have an impact on the amount of solution that is being deposited. Furthermore, the length of the tip and the amount of solution in the syringe was seen to influence the pressure required and the amount of solution being deposited. Consequently, at least all of these factors should be standardized or monitored to achieve ODFs with similar properties.”

IJP ODFs were also created in three steps using a modified, high concentration ink, with target doses created in a single layer.

“To achieve the target dose by printing a single layer, the dpi was calculated as described in the methods section,” explained the researchers. “No clogging of the nozzles was observed during printing with the described ink formulation, even though recrystallization during printing of high concentration inks containing solvents that are easily evaporated may be of concern for IJP.”

Manufacturing times for EXT ODFs and IJP ODFs. The manufacturing time includes the actual printing time, not premanufacturing steps nor drying times of films. For inkjet printing 51 ± 9 nozzles were used for target doses 0.1, 0.5, and 1 mg and 45 ± 7 nozzles for a target dose of 2 mg.

All the prepared ODF samples possessed suitable mechanical properties and were ‘superior’ in comparison to traditionally made counterparts, in terms of uniformity, leaving the research team confident about the possibility of printing them in a hospital, fabricating patient-specific doses.

(A) EXT drug-loaded ODF imprinted with a QR code containing information about the dosage form and (B) the same EXT ODF rolled up to visualize the flexibility of the film. (C) IJP drug-loaded ODF with a printed QR code and (D) the flexible ODF is subsequently coiled up for illustrative purposes.

“This study, among other recent studies in the field, have shown the feasibility and potential of using printing techniques for manufacturing of flexible doses, contributing to safer and improved treatments for various patient groups in the future,” concluded the researchers. “In order to produce personalized on-demand dosage forms for children in a hospital pharmacy setting, special attention should be paid to the safety of used excipients, implementation of suitable non-destructive and fast quality assurance methods. Furthermore, the possibility to use disposable parts instead of time-consuming cleaning procedures and short turnaround time for the complete manufacturing process including printing solution preparation and drying time of final dosage form should be ensured in order to successfully implement printing methods as a part of the manufacturing techniques used in a hospital pharmacy.”

Stability of the manufactured dosage forms with a target dose of 2 mg at time points 1, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. The gray columns represent the target dose of 2 mg. Data shown as average ± SD, n = 10.

As 3D printing continues to make countless impacts in the medical field, medication is definitely an area where there will be long-lasting changes, from creating accelerated doses to DIY drugs and medication dispensers.

What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

Pictures of the prepared dosage forms: (A) EXT ODFs; (B) IJP ODFs; (C) oral powder; and (D) OPS.

[Source / Images: ‘Towards Printed Pediatric Medicines in Hospital Pharmacies: Comparison of 2D and 3D Printed Orodispersible Warfarin Films with Conventional Oral Powders in Unit Dose Sachets’]

The post Finland: 3D Printing Patient-Specific Doses of Warfarin for Children appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Spanish Company BRECA Health Care is at the Forefront of Medical Devices & Bioprinting

In 2018 Spain’s health care system ranked third in the world, behind Hong Kong and Singapore, and first in Europe according to a Bloomberg study, so it’s no wonder that research and development of bioprinting technologies are heavily pushing to make the country a haven for its patients. In 2011, industrial engineer José Manuel Baena funded BRECA, a Granada-based healthcare company with its sights set on helping medicine solve some of the most complex pathologies out there. BRECA is a pioneer in Europe, specializing in the design, manufacture and marketing of customized implants. It is also one of the first companies in the world to manufacture a 3D printed implant using a combination of 3D printed made-to-measure synthetic medical devices and bioprinted structures to regenerate a lesion. It’s all about solving the greatest number of pathologies for Baena.

“There are many diseases in the world and most of us are going to be users of these medical solutions some day, so investing time in creating the necessary equipment to help the medical community is essential,” Baena told 3DPrint.com during an interview.

The founder of BRECA Health Care is also founder and CEO of REGEMAT 3D, a startup focusing on regenerative medicine, developing custom hardware and software required and demanded by some of the mayor hospitals and research universities in the region, as well as creating bioinks for bioprinting -from commercial to bioinks developed with university labs made of cellulose, colagen paste and with thermoplastic properties ideal for cellular therapy. They develop their own bioprinting systems, the BIO V1 machines, and customize them for their users’ applications according to the requirements of each investigation. It was back in 2011 when Baena met Juan Antonio Marchal, a professor at the Biomedical Research Centre (CIBM) of the Universidad de Granada, in Spain, working with cells and looking to make scaffolds and 3D matrices, that his interest in regenerative medicine peaked, so he began creating technology and synthetic materials to make cells that would help doctors repair and regenerate injuries.

REGEMAT 3D’s BIO V1 printer

“I see an exciting future ahead, with 3D printing offering many opportunities and applications in regenerative and therapy medicine. The next stage of bioprinting is to combine several tissues and build in vitro organs, but that could take decades. To get to a point where we can create functional complex solid organs, we need more developments, research, more people interested in using this technology, which is a fascinating tool for in-depth knowledge on the future creation of organs. It is also important to understand how bioreactors and decellularization will help us to develop functional tissues and organs. Which is why we have groups of researchers currently working on these applications, both in the short-term and looking way ahead into the future,” suggested Baena, one of the many enthusiasts who are trying to bridge 3D printing technology with medicine.

There are a lot of opportunities right now for companies like BRECA, like the combination of 3D printed custom made synthetic medical devices and bioprinted structures to regenerate an injury. According to Baena, in the past, if you wanted to do a reconstruction using biomaterials that biodegrade, you were restricted by the geometry and performance of sized medical devices. But now with 3D printing they offer customized solutions even using autologous cells of the patient to enhance the regeneration. REGEMAT 3D’s bioprinting platform is ideal for developing this type of customized options and along with BRECA they are very successful in bringing 3D printed implants and prosthesis to the clinical application with optimum results.

BRECA makes custom made plates, ATM implants, and bone reconstructions

BRECA was one of the pioneer companies in bioprinting, introducing the first bioprinter in the country. Today, they are the only Spanish company that designs and manufactures them on site. They also create bioreactors and in 2018 attempted to engineer cartilage tissue, one of the most promising treatments for articular cartilage defects, thanks to a bioreactor designed to implement a non-invasive real-time monitoring of the neo-cartilage tissue formation processes through ultrasonic signal analysis. Polylactic acid (PLA) scaffolds were printed and seeded with human chondrocytes and then, they were cultured in an ultrasound-integrated bioreactor. The team used a bioreactor system to validate ultrasound data against proliferation, gene expression and quantitative biochemistry of in vitro 3D chondrocytes.

With a total of 200 clinical cases all over the world, BRECA is helping doctors transition to a more customized solution that will improve patients’ lives. Through more personalized treatments, reducing complex surgical times and costs, the company is using 3D printing technologies for reconstruction of injuries in cranioplasty, maxillofacial, bone and cartilage, pediatric and thoracic surgery, neurosurgery, as well as other reconstructions with tailor-made surgical guides. Various reconstruction surgeries were performed at the University Hospital of La Paz, one of BRECA’s research partners, and where Ramón Cantero and Baena coordinate the 3D Tissue Engineering and Printing Platform (PITI3D), which provides ingredients and processes to generate functional tissues.

REGEMAT 3D printer at work

“Last year we started working with PITI 3D, a fantastic 3D printing platform for tissue engineering at one of the most innovative hospitals in Spain. We offer solutions for patients, medical doctors and scientists in regenerative medicine applications. Our current projects include skin regeneration, specifically for a pediatric pathology known as butterfly skin (a genetic mutation that results in skin blistering); Kit Lab on a chip for antitumor treatments, and manufacturing custom-made medical devices for complex surgeries at the University Hospital of La Paz (which we do through BRECA),” suggested Baena, who recently graduated with his PhD in Biomedicine.

REGEMAT 3D printer at University of Iowa lab

Among the top 10 bioprinting companies in the world, BRECA has over 50 active projects in 25 countries, including the University of Sydney, Australia, the University of Iowa, in the U.S., the Paper and Fibre Research Institute of Sweden, Virgen del Rocio Hospital in Seville and Colombia´s National Institute of Rehabilitation. They have participated in many neurosurgery processes by developing the made-to-order medical devices for cranioplasty in patients with injuries or cranial defects, as well as jaw reconstructions and other types of bone prosthesis. The custom contoured grafts are made from materials such as titanium or synthetic bone substitutes.

“Many of the other bioprinting companies are selling mass-produced 3D printers but we chose to offer a one-of-a-kind machine for the researcher who wants to create unique bioprints, and this is working quite well for us, because we don’t just want to have our printers in every bioprinting lab, instead we like to be involved in the research being done, get to know the projects and help in any way we can. The BRECA-REGEMAT model is strongly invetsting on the future of clinical applications of additive manufacturing. There has been a continuous growth in bioprinting advances in the last thre years, but I consider that the next five years will see a strong increase in bioprinting discoveries,” says Baena.

With so many applications for bioprinting in the horizon, Baena believes that once we can engineer any human fully functional tissue, the next frontier will lie in uploading our memories, knowledge and consciousness for storage and to eventually regenerate encephalitic mass. He explains that we have the regeneration part down, but we need technologies and processes that will allow us to copy the existing information in the brain so that we can regenerate it too. “Like a backup of our brain”, he calls it. And although the scientist and engineer know that the idea is far fetched and could take years before it actually happens, he believes that “continuous investigation is the key to making the impossible possible.” After all, regenerating tissues was something that sounded quite futuristic some 50 years ago.

The Spanish company believes in the advantages and potential of technology, as well as in its innumerable applications, but there is still a lot of investigation on the way and decades before some of the more daring ventures, like creating fully functional organs, become realities. According to Baena, Spanish legislation is not an impediment for using the 3D printing machines, but yes when it comes to the clinical phase, so it might be a few years before some of the research gets to patient clinical trials and lawmakers catch up to some of the technological advances tacking place today.

Baena and the REGEMAT team

The byFlow 3D Food Printer That Could Make Culinary Personalization Happen

Back in 2015, the Dutch company byFlow – then called 3D By Flow – launched their portable and multi-extruder 3D printer “Focus” on Kickstarter. Although their 3D printer reached 39% of its funding goal in order to start the manufacturing process (they were asking for €50,000 but it closed at €19,702), byFlow proceeded to market and make their printer.

byFlow is a family business that was founded in 2015 in the Netherlands, and today it’s one of the leading companies in the 3D food printing market around the world. Their 3D Focus Food Printer is meant to be easy to use and maintain, which makes it accessible to everyone. The Focus is aimed at letting professionals create customized textures, flavors, and shapes through the use of fresh ingredients as well as those ingredients that we usually throw away.

What’s great about the Focus is that it’s portable. This 3D printer can fold up into its compact carrying case making it easy to take it everywhere you want. The case’s size is about 44 x 32 x 11 cm and can be set up in less than 30 seconds. Once it is ready, you can connect the Focus to a computer or plug an SD card containing the STL files in it.

Today, byFlow’s main focus is selling and developing their 3D food printer, as well as giving demonstrations and workshops to the public, and for private events as to increase the interest in the 3D printing of food.

What’s new? byFlow Studio

[Image: byFlow]

byFlow is all about personalization. They recently released byFlow Studio, their new platform and second product. The platform provides design tools, recipes, food design databases, and manuals for support, aimed at food professionals in the culinary industry. As byFlow believes, customized food “is a must to base your assortment on the wishes and needs of your target audience, in order to survive the dynamic world of food services.”

byFlow Studio helps customers to create their own customized designs. To access this tool, you need to log in at www.byflowstudio.com and click on “Design Tool” to start a new project. If you don’t have a personal account, in order to create one, you will need a license key.

[Image: byFlow]

The platform lets you upload different types of files to create unique 3D shapes. It can be text, images, freehand drawings, a photo of someone, and more. Once you’ve upload the file, you can use the edit tools to adjust the design. There are manuals that can help you with the editing tools. Once you’ve finished resizing your design and the software autocorrects it, you can download the design as a printing file and upload it to the Focus 3D Food Printer.

Applications: Customizing Hospital Food

When we speak of hospital food, we instantly think of a distasteful dish made out of basic ingredients that are not appealing at all. The Healthcare sector is aware of the importance of food quality and food trends, since its crucial in convincing patients of hospitals, especially elderly residents, to eat more.

Food contributes to the process of recovery after an illness, but sick and elderly patients usually lack appetite. To avoid this, patients’ meals are usually mashed, as to make them soft and as to get rid of anything that could make the meals difficult to swallow. However, serving mashed food has proved to not solve this issue.

[Image: byFlow]

byFlow believes that their Focus 3D Food Printer acts as a solution. The Focus has an open cartridge system that can make almost every shape you desire and out of almost every purified food ingredient.

“Vegetables, fruits, but also pasta, meat or fish – fresh ingredients must be prepared, processed into a puree and put into a special tube (a cartridge) which is later placed in the 3D Food Printer. A carrot puree in a shape of a carrot, minced fish in a shape of a fish, but also more creative and innovative dishes in new and unique shapes – everything is possible,” explains byFlow.

Ad Verhagen, Nina Hoff and Martijn van Gemst (Chef at Zorgwaard) – Via Waardigheid

Ad Verhagen, the gastronomy manager at Zorgwaard (a nursing home in Oud-Beijerland, Netherlands) has been working with byFlow on implementing personalized 3D printed dishes for the residents in the future.

“We are researching what works best and we are very happy to contribute to the development and improvement of this method of meal preparation. As far as I am concerned, a 3D Food Printer will be available at all Zorgwaard’s locations in a few years’ time. What is so beneficial for the residents must be available everywhere,” Verhagen says.

Applications: Fighting One of The World’s Biggest Problems

Did you know over 30% of the food produced in the world is wasted? It’s not just a misuse of resources, it also has a severe impact on climate change. byFlow’s vision is to “enable professionals to create customized shapes, textures and flavors, by using fresh ingredients or ingredients that otherwise would have been thrown away”. As previously mentioned, the Focus 3D Food Printer has an open cartridge system, which allows almost any food ingredient to be used for printing into any personalized shape.

Image via De Verspillingsfabriek

byFlow shares a similar vision with De Verspillingsfabriek, a surplus food factory that produces food products out of rescued ingredients without adding preservatives or chemical additives to them.

“What surprised me mostly is that those ingredients are not even ugly. Being involved in the food industry I’ve been fully aware of the scale of the food waste problem, but I had no idea that so much of even perfectly good food is being wasted. Only due to miscalculations and hard rules of a profit-driven food industry. We love the idea of producing food out of ingredients that otherwise would be wasted and we immediately knew that there is a space for 3D Food Printing in this project,” says Nina Hoff, byFlow’s CEO, referring to the surplus ingredients.

byFlow and De Verspillingsfabriek met and started their collaboration quickly thanks to HAS Hogeschool, the facilitator of the Food Waste Upcycling Project. Antien Zuidberg, HAS University of Applied Sciences lecturer and coordinator of the Food Innovation study programme, guides students into researching possibilities of upcycling food waste by using the Focus 3D Food Printer.

Antien Zuidberg – Image via HAS University

“When we started 2 years ago with 3D food printing at HAS Hogeschool, I was wondering about where we could have a large societal impact with this new technology, and the first idea was: can we upcycle food waste? I would be thrilled if we can develop an application which can become a viable business case, and which can help this new technology forward as well as upcycle food waste to beautiful new products,” adds Zuidberg about the project.

byFlow’s Focus 3D Food Printer is being used as a tool to help transform surplus food ingredients into ready-to-eat products to give them a “second life”. The Food Waste Upcycling Project brings up new possibilities and hopes: thanks to the Focus, De Verspillingsfabriek can diversify its products range that was then limited to soups and sauces.

[Sources: byFlow, byFlow Studio, HAS University, De Verspillingsfabriek]

AMS 2019 Day 2: Medical 3D Printing Keynote by HP’s Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences Strategy

Lawrence Gasman, SmarTech Markets Publishing

Our second annual Additive Manufacturing Strategies summit, held in Boston and co-hosted by SmarTech Markets Publishing, is in full swing after Tuesday’s two featured workshops. This year’s AMS event, “The Future of 3D Printing in Medicine and Dentistry,” now includes a track each for medical and dental 3D printing, along with a startup competition, an exhibition floor with 12 booths, and even more speakers.

Yesterday morning, Lawrence Gasman, the President of SmarTech Markets Publishing, officially opened the summit, and had some exciting news to share – while last year’s AMS had participants from roughly 11 countries, this year 24 countries, along with 27 US states, are represented. Gasman mentioned that the hope is for the AMS summit to be rooted in the entire healthcare industry, before introducing Dr. Ali Tinazli, the Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences Strategy for HP and the day’s keynote speaker.

Dr. Tinazli has been leading HP’s corporate-wide, global strategy for Healthcare and Life Sciences since 2015, and though he referred to himself as a “3D print novice,” spoke today about “3D Printing Going Mainstream for Health 4.0,” with the main theme centered around the democratization of medicine and the implications. He is currently working on a healthcare testing ecosystem made up of mobile diagnostics and small microfluidic parts, and, as a self-proclaimed fan of technology convergence, noted with admiration that an event such as AMS would not have been possible even a few years ago.

Dr. Ali Tinazli of HP

After giving a brief history of HP, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, and how it is “using technology to make a better future for everyone,” Dr. Tinazli explained why 3D printing excites him; the reasons include the fact that 3D printing is connecting HP’s core technology, can be used to customize products, and is also “the catalyst for the fourth industrial revolution” by enabling faster innovation. He noted that democratization is helping to make technologies, such as 3D printing, available to everyone.

Dr. Tinazli discussed blended reality, where the physical world tells us how to shape certain things and we then use this information to automate and digitize it. A good example of this is using CT scans to build medical devices and implants, which are then 3D printed and used on patients.

He noted that some specific megatrends (slow-changing, transformative, global trends), such as decentralized healthcare and an aging population, are indicating a transformation in life sciences, which, when paired with 3D printing, could create some major opportunities for disruption in healthcare.

3D printing is reinventing industries and “making the leap to factory production,” and Dr. Tinazli noted some of the economic justifications for adopting the technology, such as:

making objects at a faster speed, with less waste and low risk
ability to fabricate unique geometries on a massive scale
mass customization
scalable

While he noted that some of his favorite 3D printing topics are art and fashion (like me!), Dr. Tinazli said that healthcare is the oldest industry benefiting from the technology – current applications include skull patches, hearing aids, custom orthotics, prosthetics, insoles, and surgical planning.

He noted four classes of mainstream healthcare applications – orthodontics, dental prosthetics, hearing aids, and orthopedics – that see a combined 400,000 custom medical devices 3D printed per day…an impressive number, indeed.

Dr. Tinazli moved on to discuss some of the many innovative companies using 3D printing for medical applications, starting with the startup Smile Direct Club, which either delivers an impression kit directly to a customer’s home or has one of its remote SmileShops scan the teeth in order to fabricate custom dental aligners. Dr. Tinazli noted that dental is in an “interesting growth phase,” and also mentioned nivellipso, a Swiss company that uses HP’s MJF technology to 3D print dental molds.

One of Dr. Tinazli’s favorite examples is the custom earbud manufacturing solution that Formlabs debuted at CES 2018. He noted that the earbuds are made with the same technology and workflow as custom 3D printed hearing aids are, which is an excellent example of 3D printing solutions in the clinical world being applied to consumer products.

“The more I learn about new technologies, the more I think it’s about the user experience,” he stated.

[Image: UNYQ]

This was the perfect segue to the 3D printed UNYQ Align scoliosis brace, which is far more pleasant for teenage patients to wear for 24 hours than the traditional braces, which are typically heavy and far too hot.

Dr. Tinazli said, “User experience, even in medicine, neglected over the past decades, is getting better.”

Another example he brought up was HP’s FitStation platform, which is using 3D printing to deliver individualized, custom-fitting footwear and orthotics.

“Clinical applications can have an impact on the consumer,” Dr. Tinazli said.

The talk then moved on to point-of-care (POC) 3D printing, and how the use of 3D printed anatomical models before surgery can decrease the length of the operation, which in turn saves on cost and improves the patient’s experience and surgical outcome. This is where full-color 3D printing, which Dr. Tinazli called “a strong domain of HP,” can be very helpful.

He also touched on additional 3D printing applications that HP technology is being used to make, such as more comfortable cranial helmets for infants, prosthetics and sockets for braces, and eyewear.

Using the Jet Fusion 4210 3D printer, Dr. Tinazli said that it will only cost $700-800 for an entire build of 322 sunglass parts, which makes it possible to sell them “at a profit.”

In addition, the MJF 300/500 3D printer series is able to make sunglasses that have custom designs, like Minecraft-themed, and can even include QR codes to help lower the risk of counterfeiting.

Finally, Dr. Tinazli mentioned HP’s “latest baby: Metal Jet Fusion,” which was introduced in late 2018 and allows companies to “dive instantly into mass production.” Additionally, it can also be used for medical applications, such as 3D printing surgical devices and tools.

[Image: HP]

Then came the question and answer portion of the keynote. Someone asked what industries will be most immediately impacted by HP’s Metal Jet Fusion; Dr. Tinazli replied that HP is going after professional users in high value mass markets, like automotive and medical.

Another attendee asked about specific patient populations being looked at by HP.

“From 3D printing, we look at it as more of a B2B business, and it’s up to the companies we work with,” Dr. Tinazli answered. “We do not have any immediate exposure to patients.”

He expounded on this answer further during the next question, when a facial surgeon in the audience asked about the entire workflow of 3D printing in healthcare, in terms of training technicians and physicians to use the equipment to fabricate customized models, and if HP was doing anything to address the full spectrum of care, rather than just providing the 3D printer itself.

“We have all these internal debates about how deep we’re going into the service,” Dr. Tinazli answered, stating that the company could very easily find itself in the service business and competing with healthcare customers.

“That’s why we look at it as B2B. Otherwise we would be getting too close to our customers…definitely more lucrative, but presently we don’t do that.”

We’ll have more to share with you from AMS 2019, so stay tuned!

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[Images: Sarah Saunders unless otherwise noted]