McGill researchers win Ig Nobel for mosquito mouthpart 3D printing nozzle
The 2026 Technology Prize went to necroprinting, a biohybrid process that extruded lines as fine as 20 micrometers
A team at McGill University has taken the 2026 Ig Nobel Technology Prize for necroprinting, a process that used the proboscis of a female mosquito as an ultra-fine 3D printing nozzle.
The 36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prizes were handed out this week in Zurich, Switzerland, alongside awards for work on the protein content of cockroach milk and on measuring soil health with 1,000 pairs of underwear.
The mosquito proboscis in question measured 2 mm and carried minimal curvature, and deposited lines as narrow as 20 micrometers. The researchers produced a 250% improvement over conventional, commercially available printing tips, with the added property that the biological nozzle was biodegradable.
The team screened fangs, stingers, plant xylem vessels and the proboscises of bed bugs and tsetse flies before settling on the female mosquito for its structural properties.
“Mosquito proboscides let us print extremely small, precise structures that are difficult or very expensive to produce with conventional tools,” said Changhong Cao, Mechanical Engineer at McGill University.
“Since biological nozzles are biodegradable, we can repurpose materials that would otherwise be discarded.”
The work produced honeycomb and maple leaf geometries and bioscaffolds holding individual cancer cells and red blood cells. The team also injected model drug carriers into pig skin at picomolar concentrations.
“By introducing biotic materials as viable substitutes to complex engineered components, this work paves the way for sustainable and innovative solutions in advanced manufacturing and microengineering,” said Jianyu Li, Bioengineer at McGill University.
