3D Printing and Medicine
3D printing has been a rapidly developing technology and process in recent years, with many useful applications in research labs and the medical field. So far, the uses of 3D printed materials in the medical field have been limited to creating objects like medical devices and small implants, like heart valve implants. The issue is the materials currently used for 3D printing are obviously not natural to our body- so implanting humans with 3D materials could lead to rejection, even if it was printed to perfectly fit that patient's body.
Xpect-INX
Xpect-INX is a company/research team led in part by Jasper van Hoorick of Ghent University in Belgium. In recent years, Belgium has been a hub for 3D printing technology development and improvement, and van Hoorick and his team decided that instead of improving the machinery itself, they would improve the material it prints with, so that 3D printing can assist in making medical breakthroughs. The Xpect-INX team is in the process of developing and commercializing bio-ink, an "ink" that is engineered to represent living human tissue and graft well with living human tissue. These inks contain real human cells, that are cultured on a plate, then taken and mixed with different polymers and nutrients to form a sort of 3D living filament that can be used in special 3D printers to print human tissue. The hope for this material is to eventually develop and improve bio-inks to the point that they can be used to print entire organs instead of having to find donors and undergo transplantation as people do now. It can also be used to more effectively replace or fix heart valves, and can be the new future of plastic surgery involving things such as breast implants.
van Hoorick's Creative Process and Collaboration
In an interview earlier this year, van Hoorick said that his motivation is driven by "the ability to take new developments from the more theoretical academic framework towards real life applications." He is intrinsically motivated, and collaboration is very important to his creative process. While bio-ink is not his original creative idea, the manner in which he works to make these ideas a reality are unique. Working with a team of chemical and biochemical researchers at Ghent University, van Hoorick joined them and recruited others to develop Xpect-INX. Bringing in different types of scientists and biochemical engineers to collaborate with is what has allowed Xpect-INX to make such great improvement in such little time. This collaboration of people with different view points and different scientific backgrounds is what has allowed van Hoorick to combine these different view points with his chemical background to develop this thesis on tissue engineering. Collaboration only becomes more and more important to van Hoorick as time goes on, because as Xpect-INX grows bigger and gains more attention, more scientists from different fields become involved in the project and contribute to the development of bio-ink.
Thank you for sharing! The application of 3D printing in medicine is incredibly important and it is interesting to see what more it can allow doctors and other health professionals to do.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about the development of bio-ink and how it is effective when used as a graph. It is exciting to see how they have hopes to be able to develop full organs for transplant instead of relying on donors! I thought van Hoorick's creative method was also crucial in developing this technology, consulting a team of scientists who can each apply their expertise in medicine, chemistry, and biochemistry to most efficiently and creatively decide the next steps for this technology.
This is really interesting! Transplants always come with some risk and this would likely eliminate the amount of time people have to wait for transplants. Even after people wait for transplants from other people the organ is rejected so it would be a huge deal if bio-ink could reduce the chance of rejection!
ReplyDeleteThis was really interesting to read about! I am a huge fan of Grey's Anatomy and remember them 3D printing some organs during the show. However, I think it's so cool that van Hoorick and his research team is trying come up with a way to make viable materials to 3D print full organs. It would be such a breakthrough in medicine if we're able to 3D print organs instead of waiting for organ donors. I find it so fascinating how advanced technology is becoming and what we might be able to accomplish in the medical field in the future. I also think you did a great job at highlighting how important collaboration is when it comes to experimenting within the medical field.
ReplyDeleteI'll be honest, this seems like it came straight out of a science fiction novel! Despite the unique challenges that such a pursuit may pose, I find it incredibly valiant of van Hoorick and his colleagues to strive to achieve such a breakthrough in medicine. Working in a lab that propagates its own cells, I have found that it's often very difficult to maintain a large-scale cell culture that is capable of sustaining itself in a 3D environment (i.e anywhere other than a cell plate), so it'll be very interesting to see how Xpect-INK works with that constraint.
ReplyDeleteI heard about this a couple years ago, but now I understand the full picture and more. Thank you for sharing this! It is amazing how scientists took the biggest constraint, being donor/receiver compatibility and transplant rejection, and found a way to completely bypass that. Using the patient's own cells, usually stem cells, the body is less likely to reject it and the cells can easily specialize and adapt to the changes in the body. I love the collaborative nature of this research. By bringing in more scientists, it seems that there is less of a focus on a "big discover" and more on helping patients. This makes me think of people in my own life. I know someone with an artificial valve, and you can hear it working just by standing close to them. I wonder if this technology was around earlier if doctors would have suggested 3D printing to replace the valve.
ReplyDeleteReading this, I can really appreciate the type of work and the nature of said work in attempts to helping to save lives; bio ink, as a concept, is definitely something that would dramatically improve survival rates for people in the future, and is a wonderful idea. van Hoorick himself seems like someone who has planned out his path to success quite well; he knows what he has and what he lacks in regards to progressing further in his Bio Ink project, and so with that mindset, he chooses to work with others in order to bring in those skills; an impressive way to get things done.
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