Polymer-Based 3D Printing Applications

🔬 A New Era in Medicine: First-Ever 3D-Printed Windpipe Implanted in Cancer Survivor In a groundbreaking medical achievement, South Korean scientists have successfully implanted a 3D-printed trachea (windpipe) into a patient — marking a world-first and redefining the future of regenerative medicine. The patient, a woman who had lost a part of her windpipe due to thyroid cancer surgery, became the recipient of this bioengineered miracle. The artificial trachea was developed using bio-ink composed of the patient's own living cells — including cartilage and mucosal cells — combined with a biodegradable polymer scaffold (PCL). This scaffold not only provided mechanical strength but also allowed the body to regenerate its own tissue around it. What makes this even more astonishing? ✅ No immunosuppressants were needed. Since the trachea was built from the patient’s own cells, her body accepted it naturally. ✅ Healthy blood vessels formed within 6 months, a critical sign of integration and healing. ✅ The patient regained normal function without the usual complications of transplant rejection. Led by Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital and T&R Biofab, this achievement is being hailed as a major milestone in personalized medicine and bioprinting technology. The future is no longer dependent solely on donors — it's now being printed, cell by cell. This opens the door for the possibility of 3D-printed lungs, kidneys, even hearts — tailored for the individual, reducing waitlists, and eliminating the risk of rejection. We are witnessing the dawn of a medical revolution where organs won’t just be donated… they’ll be designed. #RegenerativeMedicine #3DPrinting #HealthcareInnovation #Biotech #FutureOfMedicine #MedicalBreakthrough #OrganTransplant 🪻Ram Sharma 🪻

Interested in sustainable materials for #3Dprinting via #FusedFilamentFabrication (FFF)? Delighted to share our latest collaborative research on a novel #thermoplastic #PLA-based #biocomposite reinforced with short #yucca #fibers (from Algeria), extracted using both traditional and water retting methods. With only 1 wt% of traditionally extracted fiber, we enhanced: 🔹 +31% tensile strength (61 MPa) 🔹 +27% compressive strength (89 MPa) 🔹 +66% fatigue life (40,185 cycles) 🔹 thermal stability (Tmax = 394 °C) This is another sustainably engineered composite for the FFF 3D printing materials library, with high potential for durable consumer product applications. You may please pead the full paper <https://lnkd.in/eR-cM3DS> and share your thoughts. Researchers: Med Amine Kacem, Moussa Guebailia, Mohammadreza Lalegani, Said Abdi, Pr Sabba Nassila, Ali Zolfagharian, Mahdi Bodaghi.

3D-Printed Skull Implants Are Redefining What “Life-Saving Surgery” Means Overview This Men’s Health feature profiles Greg Morrison, a 63-year-old systems engineer whose life was saved after nearly half of his skull was replaced with a custom 3D-printed implant. Following multiple brain bleeds and surgeries, traditional reconstruction methods failed, forcing doctors to turn to advanced additive manufacturing to protect his brain and restore normal function. The Medical Challenge Morrison suffered a brain bleed linked to blood-thinning medication, requiring emergency surgery to remove part of his skull and relieve pressure. Subsequent complications, including an unrelated brain tumor and repeated surgeries, prevented the skull bones from healing or fusing. The damaged skull began collapsing inward, screws loosened, and Morrison faced severe risk from infection or even minor head trauma. Conventional mesh implants could not restore the skull’s complex shape. The Breakthrough Solution Neurosurgeon Dr. Nitesh Patel proposed a patient-specific, 3D-printed skull implant based on detailed CT scans. A specialized company created a precise digital model and fabricated the implant from a medical-grade polymer engineered to mimic the strength and properties of natural bone. The implant was surgically fixed in place, fitting seamlessly with Morrison’s existing skull structure. Outcome and Impact Morrison recovered without complications and quickly returned to an active, productive life. The implant is undetectable externally, restores full protection to the brain, and requires no ongoing maintenance. According to Dr. Patel, similar implants are already being used for patients with tumors, traumatic injuries, and infections that compromise skull integrity. Why This Matters This case illustrates how 3D printing is moving from experimental novelty to frontline clinical tool. Custom implants enable precision reconstruction that traditional approaches cannot achieve, reducing risk, improving outcomes, and accelerating recovery. As the technology expands into joints, heart valves, and inner-ear structures, personalized, digitally designed anatomy is becoming a core pillar of next-generation medicine. Keith King https://lnkd.in/gHPvUttw

Excellent new paper on 3-D printed gastroretentive modified release tablets of famotidine published in AAPS PharmSciTech. Famotidine suffers from low oral bioavailability due to poor aqueous solubility, short half-life, and limited gastric retention. This study aimed to develop gastro-retentive floating tablets of famotidine using hot-melt extrusion (HME) and fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing approach to enhance its solubility, prolong gastric residence, and achieve extended drug release. Famotidine was incorporated into various polymeric carriers, including hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC LF) and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC E5), to produce drug-loaded filaments using an 11 mm twin-screw co-rotating extruder. The filaments were subsequently 3D-printed into low-density, hollow tablets to achieve prolonged gastric floatation. The solid-state characterization by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) revealed the absence of famotidine’s crystalline melting peak in both filaments and 3D-printed tablets, suggesting amorphization within the polymer matrix. FTIR spectroscopy indicated hydrogen bonding interactions between famotidine and polymer hydroxyl groups, supporting the stabilization of the solid dispersion. The lead formulation demonstrated excellent buoyancy of about nine hours and extended drug release in 0.1 N HCl, confirming the potential of the system for extended gastric retention. This work highlights the utility of HME-FDM 3D printing for developing tailored, gastro-retentive dosage forms that enhance the performance of poorly soluble drugs like famotidine through amorphous solid dispersion and formulation-driven design. Esra'a Al Shawakri Eman Ashour, PhD Rasha El-Kanayati Mashan Almutairi Sundus Omari Nouf Alshammari Michael Repka American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) | @aapscomms Miguel O. Jara Claudio Salomon QI (Tony) ZHOU Sanyog Jain

3D Printed porous scaffolds for bone grafts --> Researchers 3D printed a thin porous scaffold from a biodegradable polymer. Internal 3D bioprinted microtissues leads to angiogenesis and microvasculature. Collagen from Advanced BioMatrix helped support cell attachment and HUVEC sprouting within the scaffold. BMP-2 delivered via collagen hydrogel provided osteoinductive properties. Combining these components leads to a pre-vascularized, osteogenic, anatomically shaped bone graft. This has amazing implications for the future of #3dbioprinting and #3dprinting, as bone defects are common conditions resulting from trauma, #cancer and infection. Read the full publication here: https://lnkd.in/gBsusZcF

“The research uses a nanocomposite material comprising inorganic, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) fillers embedded in a thermoplastic polymer. By carefully combining additives, surface treatments and thermal post-processing, the team created a crystalline polymer structure that bridges the highly conductive fillers, significantly enhancing thermal conductivity… The nanocomposite is first formed into continuous filament, which can then be fed into a desktop 3D printer to create complex structures such as heat sinks, thermal spreaders, mounting plates or panel covers. The 3D printing process further aligns the fillers, boosting the material’s performance.” #additivemanufacturing #3dprinting #army #usmilitary #research #materials #polymer #heat #thermalresearch #engineering