Developing precision 3D printing technology to make life better for patients

An amputee controlling an implanted prosthetic along with his personal muscle tissue. A army medic 3D printing the bones she wants to deal with accidents within the area. Degradable supplies guiding bone tissue to restore itself—after which disappearing into the physique as in the event that they have been by no means there.

What seems like science fiction is underway day by day in labs throughout the College of Tennessee, Knoxville, as researchers from a number of disciplines work on medical options that may make life better for patients sooner or later.

Therapeutic bones with 3D scaffolds

On the Faculty of Veterinary Drugs, a part of the UT Institute of Agriculture, biomedical researchers have been testing new technology that enables bones to heal with out plates and screws that keep in a affected person’s physique.

“The traditional approach to repairing a gap in bone is putting implants in the body that help restore form and function, but that process leaves you with this hardware permanently,” defined David E. Anderson, affiliate dean for analysis and graduate research on the school. “We have been developing degradable technologies that heal the body but don’t remain in the body forever.”

A physique can lose a certain quantity of bone and nonetheless heal itself, Anderson defined. Bone grafts signify the present gold customary for those that exceed these limits, however they’ve their downsides. An autograft—bone tissue taken from elsewhere in a affected person’s physique—creates a second wound that additionally wants to heal, whereas an allograft—bone tissue taken from a cadaver—carries a danger of rejection.

Anderson has been working for greater than 14 years with Alexandru Biris, director of the Heart for Integrative Nanotechnology Sciences on the College of Arkansas at Little Rock, to develop bone regeneration technology. The extremely porous polymeric scaffolds that have been developed and patented by Biris and refined and validated in collaboration with Anderson can be utilized not solely to bridge the hole in bone but additionally to information the prevailing bone tissue to fill that hole.

“Like the scaffolds you see construction workers using on the side of a building, these scaffolds are mostly space,” Anderson defined. “They are 3D structures designed for the bone tissue to grow into the spaces in the scaffold. The scaffold allows the tissue to know where to go.”

Biris and Anderson’s aim is for the scaffolds to achieve approval from the US Meals and Drug Administration for use in folks. The 2 researchers co-founded a start-up firm, NuShores BioSciences LLC, to commercialize the technology—which, Anderson mentioned, may change medication.

“So many of the implants we put in, they don’t need to be there permanently because the bone will heal in a few months,” Anderson mentioned. “This would be a huge advantage.”

Anderson and his fellow researchers are additionally working to develop applied sciences for a precision medication method to orthopedic accidents. With 3D printing, often known as additive manufacturing, Anderson envisions a future the place bones, joints, and scaffolds are printed to every affected person’s specs.

“Right now, hospitals have to carry a large inventory of orthopedic devices because one size won’t fit all,” he mentioned. “But with customizable technology, hospital staff could scan and measure the patient and 3D print exactly what they need.”

Anderson imagines new surgical items constructed with a producing facility at their middle, just like the hub of a wheel, with particular person working rooms surrounding it like spokes. Place-based manufacturing would permit the technology to be cell, which might be useful for these on army, deep sea, or deep house missions, Anderson added.

3D printing can save time, cash

UT Knoxville is already doing this type of work, thanks to researchers like Rigoberto Advincula, UT–Oak Ridge Nationwide Laboratory Governor’s Chair for Superior and Nanostructured Supplies in UT’s Tickle Faculty of Engineering.

“We are using 3D printing to prepare regenerative implants that are degradable—that are harmless for the body to metabolize,” Advincula mentioned. “And this is smart technology, too, because we can 3D print to whatever shape or ratio we desire.”

As an alternative of taking a stable block of fabric and milling it to a affected person’s specs, this technology might quickly permit technicians to digitally design the wanted half from a PET or CT scan and print it instantly from an digital file.

“Traditional methods take longer and are more expensive,” Advincula famous. “3D printing should be faster—between a 30 and 70% time savings—and potentially cost less as well.”

Advincula’s lab in UT’s Institute for Superior Supplies and Manufacturing goes past 3D printing shapes like bones and even scaffolds; it’s designing and 3D printing tendons that may connect bone to muscle and testing the motion and mechanical properties of these tendons.

“When we design tendons, they need to have the flexibility of tendons and the durability of bones,” he mentioned.

Implanting prosthetic limbs may restore feeling, operate

The 3D-printed tendons in Advincula’s lab complement the work Dustin Crouch is doing on 3D-printed endoprosthetics in his Higher Limb Help Lab within the Tickle Faculty of Engineering.

“We are testing the concept of a prosthetic limb that can be completely implanted inside the patient’s body,” mentioned Crouch, an affiliate professor of biomedical engineering. “This will allow some of the remaining muscles in the residual limb to be physically attached to the prosthesis in an anatomically realistic way.”

The idea, often called cineplasty, was examined after World Conflict II with veterans who have been amputees, Crouch famous. The options at the moment have been clunky and unnatural, like becoming a lever to a muscle to function an exterior synthetic limb. Between the discomfort of the cable and the restricted vary of movement, cineplasty was by no means extensively adopted.

Crouch’s aim is to permit the affected person to transfer their very own limb by implanting the prosthetic, attaching it to the muscle tissue with tendons, and overlaying it with pores and skin.

“The advantage here is the prosthetic is in the patient’s body,” Crouch mentioned. “Some sensation could possibly be restored with the pores and skin itself—sensations comparable to strain and temperature—however the thrilling half is that by attaching prosthetics to the muscle tissue, patients can really feel their limbs transferring and really feel just like the machine is a part of their physique.

“Studies show that between 30 and 40% of amputees will get a prosthesis and abandon it because it’s too heavy or uncomfortable,” he added. “We hope our technology could dramatically improve patients’ lives and allow them to feel like they have their bodies back.”

Making certain that cells play properly with biomaterials

Whether or not it is a molded technology like scaffolds or a 3D-printed technology, researchers want to know the way cells are going to react to these overseas supplies—and that’s the place Madhu Dhar’s experience is available in.

Dhar, director of the Tissue Regeneration Laboratory within the Faculty of Veterinary Drugs, makes use of grownup tissue—stem cells derived from adults from discarded tissue comparable to fats discarded throughout liposuction and gastric procedures—to research cells’ properties and check how they behave when launched to biomaterials.

“If I can understand the cell, everything will fall into place,” mentioned Dhar, a molecular and mobile biologist who focuses on the usage of cell-based therapies for therapy of illness. “We start in a petri dish. What kind of food do the cells like? How do we keep them happy and healthy? If we can keep a cell happy, it does its job in the body.”

As soon as Dhar and her college students research a cell’s properties, it is time to introduce numerous biomaterials that may be 3D printed proper within the Faculty of Veterinary Drugs. Whether or not it is a 3D-printed bone, cartilage, or nerve, the fabric ought to be suitable with the cell and set off a wholesome and optimum response.

“Our goal is to help heal everything from a simple fracture to a more devastating injury, and these are the tools needed to get us there,” mentioned Dhar, noting that her lab has three bioprinters that may print scaffolds particular to the tissue being studied.

“It’s very synergetic, working with materials scientists like Dr. Advincula, biomedical engineers like Dr. Crouch, and veterinary surgeons like Dr. Anderson to take our collective research from the bench to the bed for human medicine.”