Funded by the US Defense Health Program, 4-Dimensional Bioprinting, Biofabrication, and Biomanufacturing (4D Bio3) is a collaboration between the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) and The Geneva Foundation, a nonprofit that advances military medical research. The program promotes the application and development of biofabrication, biomanufacturing, and bioprinting technologies for research according to priorities by the US Department of Defense. 4D Bio3 is involved with medical research in outer space, and also much closer to home.
4D Bio3 is currently working with the foundation, Safi Biosolutions, Advanced Bioprocess Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Sciperio – the research arm of Florida 3D printing company nScrypt – to make human blood on demand. Yes, you read that correctly.
Through USUHS, the DoD and The Geneva Foundation set up the 4D Bio3 On-Demand Blood Program in order to provide access to fresh, non-contaminated blood supplies for military service members all over the world. The goal of this current partnership with Sciperio is to create solutions for future blood supply, and on-demand manufacturing of human blood seems to be the best way.
Together with Safi Biosolutions, the company received a joint award of $8.8 million to fund any contributions they make to the program in its first year. The overall goal for the program’s inaugural year is to create a “whole blood development roadmap,” and Sciperio’s part will be to develop a rugged, automated bioreactor that offers control and feedback in real-time thanks to multiple sensors. Sciperio spinoff nScrypt, which designs and manufactures highly precise, next-generation, award-winning microdispensing and 3D printing for industrial applications, will be building the bioreactor.
“How do you manufacture blood at a scale relevant for patient use? We are using several nScrypt SmartPump tool heads to precisely microdispense growth enhancers in the bioreactor, causing cell expansion and differentiation. The bioreactor makes it scalable,” explained Dr. Ken Church, the CEO of both Sciperio and nScrypt. “There are so many interesting aspects and advantages of biomanufacturing blood, including the ultimate benefit to humanity. Starting with a few cells, our bioreactor will produce billions of cells, a necessary requirement for patient transfusion. We believe this exciting project will one day result in a steady source of safe and affordable on-demand blood made where and when it’s needed.”
The nScrypt SmartPump microdispensing tool head works with over 10,000 commercially available materials – the widest range of any microdispensing system. The SmartPump “eliminates drooling with pico-liter volumetric control,” according to nScrypt, and at just 10 microns, its pen tip has the smallest available diameter on the commercial market.
If this project succeeds, and the team is able to additively manufacture human red blood cells on-site that are safe for human transfusion, there will be less need for concern relating to donor blood screening. The solution could mean that extensive donor networks are not as necessary, which can help streamline logistics in terms of blood transportation, processing, and long-term storage. This would be especially helpful for members of the military stationed in remote areas who can’t easily access these services.
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In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, we’re talking about new products and materials, an industry event, 3D printed electronics, and education. 3Doodler announced a new product, and Essentium will be showcasing two new materials at RAPID + TCT. The 4th annual AM Cluster of Ohio conference is coming up in July, and nScrypt is microdispensing 50um dots for 3D printed electronics. Finally, Penn State University is investing in Roboze technology.
3Doodler Introduces New 3D Build & Play
At the New York Toy Fair, February 22-25 at Manhattan’s Jacob Javits Center, 3Doodler will be showcasing its latest device – the 3D Build & Play, perfect for preschoolers and kindergartners to use. The pen was designed for users as young as four years old, and introduces growing children to 3D printing technology in a way that promotes cognitive and fine motor skills development, hands-on learning, story telling, and three-dimensional thinking. The 3D Build & Play is kid-safe, extruding low-heat, BPA-free, non-toxic, biodegradable plastic, and comes with a story-based Activity Guide so parents and kids can create together. Currently available for pre-order, 3D Build & Play will have an MSRP of $29.99, and major retailers, like Amazon, are also expected to carry the product in Q2 2020. Visit 3Doodler in Booth #2771 at the New York Toy Fair to learn more.
“3D Build & Play brings the creative fun of our Start pen without the learning curve for the youngest users. The system we have developed, that lets kids crank and create in 3D, is a major benefit for parents looking to improve their children’s basic motor skills. The included molds make it easy to create 3D objects by simply filling and popping them out. There’s nothing on the market today that makes 3D creation this simple or fast for young creators,” said 3Doodler’s CEO Daniel Cowen.
Essentium’s New Materials for High-Temperature Applications
At RAPID + TCT 2020 in Anaheim this spring, 3D printing solutions provider Essentium will introduce new ULTEM AM9085F and ABS materials for high-temperature industrial AM applications. These high-performance materials, which will be showcased on the company’s High Speed Extrusion platform at the event, provide high strength and have excellent resistance to heat and chemicals at high temperatures, so they can be used for applications in the aerospace, automotive, industrial, and medical industries.
According to a survey commissioned by Essentium, 51% of executives believe that the high cost of materials is a major obstacle when it comes to adopting 3D printing for large-scale production purposes. The new ULTEM AM9085F and ABS materials were created to give manufacturers a more cost-effective solution when compared to expensive closed-system materials. Learn more at Essentium’s Booth #3400 at RAPID + TCT in Anaheim, CA, April 20-23, 2020.
4th Annual Additive Manufacturing Cluster of Ohio Conference
The Additive Manufacturing Cluster of Ohio, powered by organizations such as America Makes and the Youngstown Business Incubator, has announced that its 4th annual conference will take place this summer in Cleveland. Cluster members work together to create a supply chain of interconnected institutions and businesses to advance regional growth in 3D printing. This conference, to be held on Thursday, July 30, at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Cleveland Rockside, will be the first cluster event of 2020, and will give Ohio manufacturers of multiple business models and sizes perspectives on available opportunities for adopting 3D printing into their process chain over the next five years.
The website states, “The program will look at similarities and differences across several selected manufacturer types and will identify strategies ranging from low to high risk. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies and information about regional resources to help them remain competitive in the evolving manufacturing landscape.”
nScrypt Working with 3D Printed Electronics
Orlando company nScrypt is working with precision microdispensing, an additive method of dispensing pastes, inks, and other fluid materials, to create adhesive dots with volumetric control, in the 50 micron range, for 3D printed electronics and flexible hybrid electronics (FHE). Microdispensing gets much closer to the substrate surface when compared to methods like jetting, and the closer the nozzle is to the surface, the finer the features of the 3D printed parts. The team used the nScrypt SmartPump, a silicone adhesive, a conical pen tip, and Heraeus SAC305-8XM8-D Type IX solder paste, and tested the consistency and repeatability of ~50µm Type IX solder and adhesive dots.
These tests showed a consistent average dot diameter of 51.24 microns, with a 6.42 micron (13%) standard deviation. These results support the fabrication of 3D printed electronics through the use of direct digital manufacturing (DDM), which allows printing to both planar substrates and the non-planar world of Printed Circuit Structures, which prints the housing or structure of an electronic device as well as placing the electronics conformally. In the future, the team plans to conduct a larger solder and adhesive dot study, in order to test required downtime, long-term reliability, and the frequency of clogging.
Penn State University Invests in Roboze Technology
Penn State, a 3D printing leader through its Center for Innovative Materials Processing through Direct Digital Deposition (CIMP-3D), has invested in a new FFF solution in order to expand its AM capabilities. The ROBOZE One+400 Xtreme 3D printer, which was designed to create high performing, functional finished parts in advanced composite materials, will help the university increase its development of high performance plastics for 3D printing, and will be housed in the Department of Chemical Engineering. Students will be able to test out new polymers on the system, and develop new formulations to provide 3D printed parts with multi-functionality. These parts will be used to advance research in applications like chemical reactors.
“ROBOZE One+400 Xtreme will be used to examine novel polymers to help to fundamentally understand the 3D printing process and as a tool to enable custom equipment more cost effectively than can be obtained with machining metals while also allowing for designs not possible with traditional manufacture. The ROBOZE One+400 Xtreme will allow Penn State to leverage its expertise in materials science, engineering and characterization to enable new solutions to problems through additive manufacturing,” said Professor Bryan D. Vogt from the Department of Chemical Engineering.
“The ability to use custom filaments and control the print processing was a critical factor in selecting ROBOZE. The flexibility allowed by ROBOZE along with its excellent printing capabilities is well aligned with the discovery-oriented research mission of the university to expand knowledge and its application. Moverover, our prior 3D printer had issues printing high temperature engineering plastics like PEEK with severe deformation of the structure generally observed. After challenges with printing PEEK with standard belt driven systems, the novel direct drive approach with the ROBOZE was an added bonus.”
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4D Bio3 is currently working with the foundation, Safi Biosolutions, Advanced Bioprocess Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Sciperio – the research arm of Florida 3D printing company nScrypt – to make human blood on demand. Yes, you read that correctly.
If this project succeeds, and the team is able to additively manufacture human red blood cells on-site that are safe for human transfusion, there will be less need for concern relating to donor blood screening. The solution could mean that extensive donor networks are not as necessary, which can help streamline logistics in terms of blood transportation, processing, and long-term storage. This would be especially helpful for members of the military stationed in remote areas who can’t easily access these services.
