Alex

A novel project underway at the University of Strathclyde has received just under £500,000 to develop miniaturized acoustic systems by means of additive manufacturing. The university’s RESINators – Miniature Acoustic Resonator Systems project, delivered in partnership with the University of Glasgow, is exploring ways of creating acoustic resonators formed of metamaterials via 3D printing, rather than relying on electronic systems.  “We are aiming to eventually develop cutting edge systems for personal audio that could constitute the science of audio of acoustic systems for the next generation of technologies in wearable consumer projects,” said Project Lead Dr. Joe Jackson, from the University of Strathclyde’s department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering. Acoustic 3D printing Additive manufacturing has been utilized in the past to develop sound-enhancing and proofing properties to objects. Last year, Fraunhofer UMSICHT and Fraunhofer IBP 3D printed fungus-based sound-proofing devices which could be used to fabricate a new line of…    read more 

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have converted a six-axis robotic arm into a 3D bioprinter capable of printing cells from all directions. Using the modified bioprinter, the researchers were able to fabricate a complex-shaped blood vessel scaffold without causing cell damage or preventing cell growth and function, which are common challenges to current bioprinting methods. The 3D printed vascularized cardiac tissue remained alive and beating for six months, and could demonstrate a feasible method of bioprinting functional tissues and organs in the future.  The team also designed a repeated print-and-culture bioprinting strategy that could generate complex tissues or organs containing blood vessel networks capable of maintaining long-term survival and key functions in the future.  The CAS researchers’ novel bioprinting platform. Image via Bioactive Materials. 3D bioprinting tissues Over the past decade, there has been significant progress made in the development of viable patient-specific tissues by means of…    read more