3D Printing Is Becoming a Lab Staple to Drive Innovation

Innovation often means overcoming longstanding industry pain points. In health care and medical technology, researchers are turning to new types of technology to help them push the boundaries in their fields of study. 

Whether developing new therapies, designing micro-sized medtech or personalizing medical devices, 3D printing has become a preferred technology to help researchers overcome design challenges, quickly make prototypes and, in instances where the end products are single use or personalized, move into production. 

3D printing is accelerating medical innovation that redefines patient care, especially where there is a need for ultrahigh precision and accuracy, as is required of microneedle vaccine patches that can widen the availability of essential vaccines. 

The growing interest in 3D printing

In fact, researchers recently used advanced 3D fabrication techniques to produce microneedles with tiny, customized holes that offer better control over the fluid being dispensed. In biomedical applications, this level of control allows for ultra-targeted drug delivery. 

Several industry-wide trends—like miniaturization and patient centricity—are also making 3D printing not just a useful tool but a necessity to bypass the roadblocks of traditional manufacturing methods. Where tools and devices require micron-level features, micro 3D printing becomes the only viable option for cost-effectively producing the devices with the required precision and accuracy. 

As pharma companies look to make medicine more personalized for patients, they are using 3D printing throughout R&D to develop new delivery mechanisms and test them in the lab.

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, the number of scientific papers containing the terms “3D printing” or “3D printed” increased from 59 in 2012 to 1,573 in 2017, which highlights the growing interested in using 3D printing in pharmaceutical and biotechnology research applications. 

Research applications of 3D printing

For example, the interventional radiology team at City of Hope Cancer Center Duarte used 3D printing to design an intertumoral catheter to deliver high-dose treatments for cancer. The catheter includes 0.4 mm sideholes and finely detailed barbs. Traditional design methods couldn't meet the precision needed for these features, which drove the research team to consider micro 3D printing. With the catheter, medications are delivered to the liver at a higher level than with traditional methods and early results show that the catheter can deliver 183x higher drug concentrations compared to standard IV methods.  

Another lab used micro 3D printing to develop a new class of soft robots, which can help to make materials handling in the lab more efficient. Scientists were inspired by structures in nature and used 3D printing to create spiral-shaped robots with extremely small features that can grasp objects up to 260 times larger than their self-weight. The team hopes to use these soft robots to further simplify experimental processes in the lab with these robots handling materials of all sizes, from tiny biological samples to large objects.

Expect more researchers to bring 3D tech into their labs

With customizable care and miniaturization continuing to rise in popularity across health care and medtech, I expect 3D printing to continue to be used in creating life science solutions. Throughout my 30 years in the 3D printing industry, I’ve seen firsthand how this technology has impacted product design across industries, and I expect it to play a pivotal role in innovation across treatment areas as more researchers bring 3D technology into their labs. I look forward to seeing how researchers utilize this technology to develop new tools and therapies that will have a direct impact on patient care.