Medicinal BioPrinting by Alex Avramidis

On Monday’s class we concentrated on our expertise in relation to 3D Printing. My interest until this day is to apply 3D printing technology to BioPrinting. Some of the ideas my group members had were quite interesting as the main topic for our discussion was BioPrinting Organs in Comparison to traditional organ transplants. As a Pre-Medicine major i was quite aware of this technology and how many lives could be saved by 3D printed Organs. The fact that a printer is able to use organic protein/silica based inks to print a heart cell by cell will open a whole new page in the world of medicine, it is the future of Bio Engineering. Check out this link on Organ Printing, you will find it quite fascinating!

Organ Printing

For the next 6 weeks, I decided to apply 3D Printing technology for future BioPrinting research in my Medical career.

Week 1 (November 10-16): applied research from Professionals working on 3D printing organs.

Week 2 (November 17-23): At this point i should have found a few steady Bio engineers that are progressing with their research on Organ Printing.

Week 3 (November 24-30): I will present my gathered research and promote the work of these Bio engineers in my Biomed club to Science department.

Week 4 (December 1-7): I will keep track of research companies if they are working on any new bioprinted organs.

Week 5 (December 8-14): When i have found a Bio engineers, i hope to get a tour of the actual Bio printing facility.

Sixth week (Dec15-21): Get an internship with a bio Printing research facility as a lab technician.

The World is evolving and technology is becoming more advanced as ever before. But there is one problem and it’s killing thousands Globally each day. People are striving to live just one more day either because they suffer from a life threatening illness or because they are in need of an organ to survive. Illnesses will always be around until the end of mankind but it is part of nature, people get old, get sick, and pass away. It is the cycle of life and it goes for every living organism on this planet, that is unless you’re a humanoid robot or had a drink from the fountain of youth.

We live in world where pollution has become an issue. Factories around the world produce toxic gases, yet even worse, the amount of toxic fumes being released by auto vehicles around world is killing thousands. Its the toxins we breathe in, poison the blood and organs, that through out time leads to life threatening diseases. United States is one the very few countries that requires a catalytic converter to be installed in every auto vehicle, which in fact reduces the toxic gases being released into our atmosphere.

 We’re not the only ones breathing in theses harmful toxins. In fact, every living organism on this planet does and breathing in these toxins can increase the risk of serious health problems. Its not like we can tell everyone on this planet to stop driving or to close down their factories but there are other alternatives for a solution to this problem. Life expectancy around world varies depending where you live, what you eat, and whether you exercise or not. With the help of BioPrinting we can might as well add another 10 years to ones longevity or maybe even more? Speaking of the Fountain of youth.

With Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, scientists are researching a way to not only prevent illnesses but to replace vital organs in patients who are in need for them.  Although research is very expensive in the USA alone, “$200 million is given each year to research institutions in public funding”. BioPrinting organs will save millions of lives along the road using polymer based “materials” for manufacturing synthetic printable organs such as the heart,liver, skin, bladder, etc. If you are in serious need of an organ transplant, there will be no more depending on a donor, it will just be printed for you. According to OrganDonor.gov, there are around 118,000 patients awaiting an organ transplant of some kind and as many as 18 people die daily waiting for that organ.

BioPrinting will be a global phenomena saving peoples lives across the world. Because everyone deserves an extra day of life on this planet.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question66.htm

http://www.who.int/gho/mortality_burden_disease/life_tables/situation_trends/en/

http://www.who.int/topics/chronic_diseases/en/

http://churchandstate.org.uk/2012/02/investing-in-the-fountain-of-youth/

http://www.medicalplasticsnews.com/equipment_and_services/regerative-medicine-and-3d-bioprinting%3A-polymers-sow-the-seed-of-life/

Over the span of time taking this course, my vision of what the future would be like has grown exponentially with ideas. Ive taken notice that 3D-Printing is the future of production in all sorts of ways, yet it is primitive in terms of development. We can now print using various polymers, including ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), PLA (polylactic acid), HDPE (high density polyethylene), etc. But these are just “plastic” based materials. Imagined a defined world where 3D printers are able to print organs for those who are in need for them or maybe even print medicine in your own home rather than paying ridiculous prices for those cant afford to pay for it. It would change the world of medicine at a whole new level.

I can say 3D printing at this point in time, using polymer based “Inks” is a great advantage for those who are Artists. A simple process using Sketch Up and with just a few clicks on your computer, one can create a 3D design. Once the design is transformed into an “stl” file, it can be printed into a beautiful work of art for those who are artists and want to make 3D art work. Although some challenges can be faced with those who are new to using the program Sketch Up, being precise in the design of your work is the key. In comparison to an Architect who is designing a blue print for a model, the architect has to be precise with the dimensions of the model that architect is drawing. My Strength is curiosity in terms of thinking exponentially and the different alternatives of using technology such as the 3D printer.

As a person who is interested in Biological sciences, i see a world of redefined medicine for the better. In the near future with the help of Bio-printing, vital organs will be printed, illnesses will be cured, and peoples lives will be saved at higher statistics than which they are now.

Using multiple model blocks such as the blue cylinder block in the image below I have constructed a colonial type house in a style similar to the White House in Washington D.C. As I began constructing the front entrance of the house, i made sure the blocks were all in their right position.

There were some difficult situations i ran into, for example, the blocks not all being their actual size. By this i mean some blocks were not correctly measured, therefore the house was completely unbalanced. Imagine putting a puzzle together and the puzzle pieces do not correspond to one another. Still not getting it? Try thinking about building an actual house using bricks, except the bricks are not the same size. It would be impossible to build the house. Although in sketch up everything is possible.

One thing i managed to realize is the necessity  of maneuvering around the plane when constructing the model. From one angle, all the placed blocks look like they are in position but when looking in a different angle they could all be scattered around. I thought the idea of constructing such a structure  because it was cool. It would be like building a house without all the toil and man work. It wasn’t easy work building this model, in fact, it actually required time and preciseness when placing the blocks together. Maybe not as hard as building an actual house but close enough. As a word of advice, you definitely have to change the angle of the screen when placing the blocks together, to make sure all the blocks are in their correct positions. As i stated earlier, everything will look like its in place but from a different angle you would see scattered blocks floating everywhere. Just Imagine gravity played a role in a situation like this. It would be raining blocks.