When it comes to 3D printing, the sky is the limit. As 3D printing technology continues to advance, applications can be as far reaching as airplane and automobile parts to medical devices and even anatomically correct, biocompatible models. Although 3D printing technology is developing at a rapid pace, the technology itself is not new. It emerged in the 1980s as a means of creating rapid prototypes. In recent years the applications for 3D printed models have evolved with the available hardware, software, and printable materials. Evolving technology, paired with the creative and innovative minds of scientists, engineers, and physicians, has been the launching pad for developments within 3D printing technology specific to healthcare. One way 3D printing technology is poised to create better patient outcomes is in creating an anatomically and patient-specific models to aid in surgery and medical procedures. With the capability to 3D ...
High-throughput screening is an important method in the pharmaceutical industry to study thousands of drug candidates in one shot. But the technique demands expensive and sophisticated facilities and robots which limit its use to only those companies that can afford it. Now researchers have come up with a simple and cheap polymer-based platform that can sit on a lab bench and doesn’t need a robot to deliver chemicals.
The new technique, developed by the team of Ali Khademhosseini at Harvard University, centers around two polymers: a layer of porous hydrogel, a substance called poly(ethylene glycol)-diacrylate (PEGDA) that lies on top of an array of tiny wells. The array of wells is made out of the polymer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).
The PEGDA is made to have a bumpy surface. Each bump holds the different chemicals that need to be analyzed, much like the way a sponge holds water. The bumps fit into the tiny wells underneath it in the PDMS layer. When a bump clicks into a well, the chemical slowly squeezes out of the bump and into the well. Anything sitting inside the well then gets to react to the chemical. The researchers tested their polymer platform with breast cancer cells sitting in 2,100 wells to study the effects of chosen chemicals on the cells.
As science writer Sarah Webb reports in Chemical & Engineering News:
At only $1 to $2 per chip, the technique offers high-throughput screening at much lower cost than conventional methods, says Khademhosseini. He and his colleagues want to adapt the technology to personalized medicine and diagnostics. “We’d like for people to be able to take a drop of blood or saliva and do a variety of medical screens,” Khademhosseini says.
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