UC Davis researchers to 3D print inside the human body
The proposal suggests using Direct Sound Printing (DSP) to create implants and scaffolds and reduce the need for invasive surgeries
According to the University of California, Davis, researchers have won the David Dornfeld Manufacturing Vision Award at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers 2024 National Science Foundation Manufacturing Blue Sky Competition with a proposal for a pathway to 3D printing inside the human body. The project earned top prize over five other finalists, selected out of more than 50 submissions.
The Blue Sky Competition seeks interdisciplinary proposals for visionary ideas that could be described as radical, outrageous, transformational, or breakthrough; they should ‘pose grand challenges to be addressed by pursuing a manufacturing research vision… and show potential for transformative impact.’
In their proposal, titled ‘Printing beyond barriers: A pathway to non-invasive deep inside body printing’, Mohsen Habibi, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UC Davis, and his UC Davis collaborators, Aijun Wang, a professor of biomedical engineering and surgery, and James Marcin, a professor of pediatrics and vice chair for pediatric clinical research, suggest using Direct Sound Printing, or DSP, to 3D print things like implants or scaffolds inside the human body and reduce the need for invasive surgeries.
The novel 3D printing method, which Habibi discovered in 2018, uses sound waves, instead of light or heat, to create solid material out of a polymer solution from behind a physical barrier.
For 3D printing inside the body, the researchers propose using biologically compatible materials, which would be injected into the body and the ultrasound source would be spatially adjusted to print the desired shape.
