With 3D Printing, Medical Devices Are Cool Again (TechCrunch)
The recent and successful human implantation of a 3D-printed vertebra at Peking University in China captured the public’s imagination. I read the news (and its quick spread) as evidence that medical devices are, dare I say, cool again.
I’ve never seen a flood of interest as we have enjoyed recently. This is a great thing; I love the idea that innovators the world over, from almost every discipline and industry, are carefully researching and ultimately choosing to pursue opportunities in the device field. We need all the help we can get.
3D printing technology has been used to create everything from knee cartilage to new drugs for treating cancer. A fully-functioning liver is expected in a few years. Or as the New Yorker put it recently: It is now possible to “print thyself.”
Perfecting the process of bioprinting human organs and bones, and engineering DNA scaffolding from which to develop precise medicinal compounds is a focus for universities, private labs, and venture-funded startups alike, and for good reason. We can even print metal as of today; we’re no longer limited strictly to polymers.
Colleagues have repeatedly...
