The 3D Heals community, in collaboration with Vancouver Island Life Sciences (VILS), hosted an informative event on Wednesday, November 13^th that showcased the innovative 3D printed health solutions being explored at the University of Victoria (UVic) in Canada. This ground-breaking work includes 3D printed prosthetic arms by the Victoria Hand Project (VHP) and the 3D printed neural tissues by the Willerth Lab. Mechanical design goes hand-in-hand with customizable bracing for VHP’s new endeavor to treat scoliosis, while Dr. Stephanie Willerth and her team are at the edge of a new frontier for 3D printing – bioprinting human neural tissues.

VILS is a group that brings together students, academics, and professionals in Victoria and across Vancouver Island. Their membership merely requires an interest in and enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and innovation in life sciences. Focuses of VILS include biotech, diagnostics, medical devices, pharmaceutical research, and software. This 3DHeals event was part of VILS’ monthly meetings.

Dr. Stephanie Willerth and VHP’s COO, Micheal Peirone, opened the event with an overview of the innovative work happening in their labs. The Willerth Lab works with induced pluripotent stem cells to engineer functional human neural tissue. Using the RX1 printer from Aspect Biosystems, the Willerth Lab prints bioactive scaffolds which direct differentiation of stem cells using physical and chemical cues. These tissues are used for disease modeling neurodegenerative disorders and cancer and provide valuable insight on disease progression and drug treatment therapies. The end goal of this research is to design tissues suitable for transplantation into the human nervous system for treatment of diseases and for repairing damaged tissue in the brain and spinal cord. A video outlining the work of the lab can be viewed here.

VHP described their recent successes expanding their line of 3D printed prosthetic devices to include a Children’s Hand and the LimbForge arm, a more cosmetically realistic arm to be offered alongside the functional VHP hands. They also introduced their newest customizable healthcare device: a 3D printed scoliosis brace that is being developed through Dr. Nick Dechev’s research lab at UVic and is in the initial stage of testing. The scoliosis brace offers an inexpensive solution for children and adolescents who require new braces every 9-12 months until they stop growing. Conventional braces can cost families $5,000 and they are not covered by healthcare. This is a major expense for families all around the world. The 3D printed brace will help prevent further curve progression of the spine and will cost a fraction of the price compared to conventional devices by using 3D printing. The brace is currently being tested in Nepal through VHP’s partners, Ability to Change Together Nepal (ACT Nepal) and LimbCare Nepal. As VHP already has an extensive network of 3D-Print Centers in 8 countries around the world, these scoliosis braces can be manufactured and fit by the same teams, making them readily available to those in need. Their next move? A pilot project in Kenya and the creation of an extensive network of print centers for remote communities in Canada and the United States. 

About the Authors:

Emily Abelseth is a fourth-year biomedical engineering student at the University of Victoria. She has completed two tissue engineering-related co-ops, one under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Chen at the Bio-Fabrication Lab at the University of Saskatchewan in Fall 2017, and another under the supervision of Dr. Stephanie Willerth in the Willerth Lab at the University of Victoria in Spring 2018. During her co-op with Dr. Willerth, she was the first author on the paper “3D Printing of Neural Tissues Derived from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Using a Fibrin-Based Bioink”, published in ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering. She continues to volunteer at the Willerth Lab and has contributed on two other published papers on 3D bioprinting.

Kelly Knights is in her final year of a biomedical engineering student at the University of Victoria. She has been volunteering with the Victoria Hand Project since September 2016 and completed a co-op work term with the Victoria Hand project in Fall 2018, where she assisted with the design, development, and testing of the new Force Doubler device and the Child’s Hand. Kelly has also been involved with the Biomedical Design & Systems Laboratory at UVic where she has assisted with the ongoing development of 3D-printed clubfoot and scoliosis bracing solutions. 

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In many developing countries, amputees do not have access to a usable prosthetic device. Often times, there is a major lack of resources and conventional prosthetics are too expensive for amputees to afford. The Victoria Hand Project (VHP) makes low-cost, 3D printed prosthetic devices and works with local communities to get proper prosthetic care to the people that need it.

Amputees may want a prosthetic device for many different reasons. For some people, missing limbs can lead to low self-esteem and social exclusion from the community. For others, it can make it difficult to find and maintain meaningful employment. For all, it can make eating, cooking, dressing, and washing challenging to complete. By providing amputees with a usable prosthetic device, confidence is increased, employment can be found and everyday tasks can be carried out without assistance. 

The Victoria Hand is a complete body-powered prosthesis consisting of a hand, a wrist, a limb-socket, and a harness and costs only $240 USD to print, assemble and fit. As a comparison, conventional prosthetic devices can cost thousands of dollars. The Victoria Hand has high functionality, natural appearance, and is custom-made to fit each amputee. 

VHP’s approach has three key features: 

(1) setup of a production/fabrication center and training to make 3D printed prostheses on-site within developing countries; 

(2) training and working with clinical intermediaries and medical practitioners to provide professional care for amputees; 

(3) on-going operations support for both the 3D Print Group and the Clinical Care Group. 

Not only are amputees able to get replacement parts easily and on-demand, but the local economy is supported by creating jobs for people living in the country. 

All of this is made possible with 3D-printing technology! The Victoria Hand Project first began as a Master’s project in 2001 by the Executive Director of the project, Dr. Nikolai Dechev, while at the University of Toronto. Dr. Dechev wanted to create a hand capable of adaptive grasp so amputees could have a device that had a more mechanical function, could grip onto objects better and looked more natural. The hand was ground-breaking but, as it was originally machined from metal, cost thousands of dollars to manufacture. It wasn’t until 3D printing became readily available that the hand was looked at again. 3D printing paved the way for the success of the project, with parts manufactured at a fraction of the original price. 

Grand Challenges Canada provided a grant in September 2014 to further the research and, in February 2015, the first trials in Guatemala began, with patients testing the 3D-printed Victoria Hand for up to eight weeks. The users not only gave insightful feedback but also loved the hand, asking to keep it after testing was done. This sparked the idea for the Victoria Hand Project—a non-profit organization that could develop a high-quality, low-price prosthesis for the developing world. Established officially in July 2015, VHP has since partnered in seven different countries around the world and fit over 100 amputees with trans-radial (below elbow) and trans-humeral (above the elbow) upper-limb prosthetic devices.

The Victoria Hand is currently available in seven countries worldwide

A woman in Cambodia uses the Victoria Hand to wash dishes

Kevin from Guatemala holding a 3D printed ball with his 3D printed prosthetic hand

With feedback from the in-country partner groups, prosthetists and amputees, VHP works to make the device even better and more user-friendly. VHP’s mission is to provide upper-limb prosthetics to amputees in need, and hope the future brings chances to help many more amputees across the world!

See some of the newest innovations, including a Child’s Hand and a Force Doubler, at VictoriaHandProject.com

About the Author

Kelly Knights is a fourth-year biomedical engineering student at the University of Victoria who has been volunteering with the Victoria Hand Project since September 2016. Kelly completed a co-op work term with the Victoria Hand project in Fall 2018, where she assisted with the design, development, and testing of the new Force Doubler device and the Child’s Hand. Kelly has also been involved with media outreach, the creation of training documentation and assembly of the Victoria Hand. 

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