“Life is in 3D: Our healthcare should be too.”

Dr. Anita Quigley completed a Ph.D. at the Department of Medicine, Melbourne University with a focus on mitochondrial function in end-stage cardiomyopathies. She is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Wollongong as part of an ARC Centre of Excellence and an Honorary Fellow at the Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne. She is currently located at the new flagship BioFab3D laboratories and Department of Clinical Neurosciences located at St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne. Her current activities involve the use of human iPSC for modeling neurological disorders, the development of biomaterials for tissue engineering and 3D bioprinting, the delivery of stem and progenitor cells to neural and muscle tissues and the differentiation of iPSC and NSC to neural and muscle lineages. Her work involves multi-disciplinary liaison with collaborators from diverse fields including neuro and orthopedic surgery, textile fabrication technology, chemistry and material science (CSIRO, RMIT, Deakin, and UOW). She has co-supervised 15 Ph.D., AMS and Honours students through the University of Melbourne and the University of Wollongong. Dr. Quigley has over 70 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters in molecular biology, medical and materials science journals.

Dr. Anita Quigley will be a speaker at our upcoming Melbourne event.

Jenny: When was the first encounter you had with 3D printing? What was that experience like? What were you thinking at that moment?
Anita: At the University of Wollongong I saw a demonstration of a Stratasys Eden polyjet printer. It was quite a revelation, I had never seen anything like it before. My mind just kept jumping to all the possibilities! I was thinking about how I could use it for my experiments and came up with a tissue culture chamber for some of our experiments that we printed soon after.
Jenny: What inspired you to start your journey/company/career/research in 3D printing (bio-fabrication/bio-printing)?
Anita: Its potential in tissue engineering and medicine. I could see that it could enable us to create complex biological and material based structures that we could never previously have achieved.
Jenny: Who inspired you the most along this journey in 3D printing (bio-printing/bio-fabrication)? This can be a mentor, a patient, a celebrity, anyone basically. You can name more than one as well.
Anita: My colleagues and students have inspired me the most. We have discussions on new applications and new ways of creating 3D printed structures all the time, it’s a constantly evolving area.
Jenny: What motivates you the most for your work?
Anita: The possibility of creating something that can alleviate suffering or improve the quality of life of a patient.
Jenny: What is/are the biggest obstacle(s) in your line of work? If you have conquered them, what were your solutions?
Anita: The biggest obstacle is getting enough funding to expand our activities!
Jenny: If you are granted three wishes by a higher being, what would they be?  
Anita: For Australia to realistically plan to go to 100% renewable energy like many other countries are doing.

An increase in Government investment in R&D. We are ranked very poorly in the world in terms of research investment from the Australian Government.

To have our house renovation finished.
Jenny: What do you think is (are) the biggest challenge(s) in 3D Printing/bio-printing? What do you think the potential solution(s) is (are)?
Anita: In 3D bioprinting, vascularization of larger 3D structures is a big challenge. Also finding a material that is truly biocompatible (no immune response, no toxicity).
Jenny: What advice would you give to a smart driven college student in the “real world”? What bad advice you heard should they ignore?
Anita: Take the initiative for your own development. Volunteer in laboratories to gain experience.
Bad advice: Fake it till you can make it (People with experience will see through it!)
Jenny: If you could have a giant billboard to promote a message to millions and even billions of people in our community (i.e. healthcare 3D printing and bio-fabrication), what message would that be?
Anita: Life is in 3D: Our healthcare should be too.
Jenny: What were/was the best/worst investment you made in 3D printing/bio-printing/bio-fabrication?
Anita: Best Investment: Inkredible Plus 3D Bioprinter. It’s currently our lab workhorse for bioprinting.
Jenny: What was/is the biggest risk you took in your career?
Anita: Not taking an overseas position at Columbia University after my Ph.D. I stayed in Australia for my postdoc.
Jenny: What do you enjoy in your spare time? What are you passionate about outside of your work/3d printing?
Anita: Spending time with my family and watching movies.
Jenny: What is your favorite quote? Why?
Anita: “A person that never made a mistake never tried anything new” – Albert Einstein

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Dr. Khalid Rafi has over 14 years of experience in teaching and research and is one of the few established metallurgist in additive manufacturing. His research has focused on process optimization, materials characterization and developing structure-property correlations for metallic parts produced using additive manufacturing techniques including selective laser melting (SLM), electron beam melting (EBM) and ultrasonic consolidation (UC). He has published 23 research papers and is acting as reviewer for various reputed international journals.  He completed both his Masters and PhD in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and received his bachelors from Kerala University in Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Khalid Rafi will be a speaker at the #3DHEALS2018 conference on April 20-21st, 2018. 
Jenny: When was the first encounter you had with 3D printing? What was that experience like? What were you thinking at that moment?
Khalid: 3D Printing caught my attention in 2010 while I was doing a literature search on potential advanced manufacturing technologies that would be interesting to consider for future research.
My first hands-on experience with 3D Printing was in 2011 at the Rapid Prototyping Center in University of Louisville where I joined as a Research Fellow. The first 3D Printer I worked was ARCAM S400, a Metal based 3D printer using electron beam energy to process metal powders. Electron Beam Process is now an accepted 3D printing technology for manufacturing metallic implants.
Though setting up the process was bit complex and handling the metal powder was bit messy, it was really exciting to take my first build out of the machine.
Jenny: What inspired you to start your journey/company/career/research in 3D printing (bio-fabrication/bio-printing)?
Khalid: Being a Mechanical Engineer with research background in materials and metallurgy, I realized the huge potential that 3D printing can offer on the materials and the process space. I was really curious about how the materials behave when it is processed at different conditions and what would be the impact on its final properties.
Jenny: Who inspired you the most along this journey in 3D printing (bio-printing/bio-fabrication)? This can be a mentor, a patient, a celebrity, anyone basically. You can name more than one as well.
Khalid: The 3D printing research team at University of Louisville led by Dr. Thomas L. Starr (professor at University of Louisville) and Dr. Brent E. Stucker (previously a professor at University of Louisville) was a real inspiration for me to stay focused on 3D printing research and to expand the research beyond academics. We did a few projects with direct industry relevance using the research grants from NSF and NIST.
Jenny: What motivates you the most for your work?
Khalid: At UL, ensuring quality and safety of products is our priority to accomplish our mission of working for a safer world. One of the motivating factor is the great opportunity lying ahead to work on developing procedures and methods to ensure quality and safety of parts produced by 3D printing. We need robust procedures which can ensure consistency and reliability of 3D printing process.
Also, it is really exciting to get involved with standards development activities, interact with the technologists who have great expertise in this field to understand the best practices, and to keep up to date with all the latest developments in 3D printing technology.
Jenny: What is/are the biggest obstacle(s) in your line of work? If you have conquered them, what were your solutions?
Khalid: Based on my current focus in validation/certification of 3D Printing materials and process at UL, limited 3D printing standards and unavailability of historical data are the two major obstacles. The 3D printing community is aware of this and rigorous activities are currently underway to develop standards and to make as much data available to the public domain.
Jenny: What do you think is (are) the biggest challenge(s) in 3D Printing/bio-printing? What do you think the potential solution(s) is (are)?
Khalid: The key challenges are on new materials development, process scalability, and of course, the cost. Fundamental research and application-based research should go hand-in-hand to address these challenges.
Jenny: What advice would you give to a smart driven college student in the “real world”? What bad advices you heard should they ignore?
Khalid: Get the right knowledge to critically analyze and differentiate hype and reality. Accept the fact that every technology has its pros and cons. Your challenge is to address the cons and come out with workable solutions.
Jenny: If you could have a giant billboard to promote a message to millions and even billions of people in our community (i.e. healthcare 3D printing and bio-fabrication), what message would that be?
Khalid: 3D printing is certainly a powerful tool that can greatly impact healthcare. To get the most out of it, take a holistic approach to the technology. Analyze and understand how you can leverage the technology for your specific needs. Go for adoption after having a thorough understanding of the technology.
Jenny: What were/was the best investment you made in 3D printing/bio-printing/bio-fabrication?
Khalid: We have made investments in collaborations with research institutes and in developing training curriculum for workforce development.
Jenny: What was/is the biggest risk you took in your career?
Khalid: My original career ambition was to become an academician. However, 3D printing influenced me to think in a different direction to move to the industry at a time when the path ahead was not that clear.
Jenny: What do you enjoy in your spare time? What are you passionate about outside of your work/3d printing?
Khalid: Other than being with family, I spend a good amount of my spare time reading articles shared by my contacts in professional networks.
Jenny: What is your favorite quote? Why?
Khalid: “Once you stop learning, you start dying” – Albert Einstein.
Continuous learning is a must to stay relevant in this world that moves faster in technological advancements.
Jenny: What does the word “3DHEALS” mean to you? =)
Khalid: A healing touch with 3D Printing technology.

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Mr. Janis Jatnieks has been working with industrial 3D printing for the last five years. Operating in a small market of Baltic States has always made them more aware of where the 3D printing technology is advancing and which are the niche products that are perfect for 3D printing. The first time he encountered a request for 3D printed prosthetic was 3 years ago and has been working with 3D printed prostheses and orthoses ever since. Mr. Janis Jatnieks will be a speaker at the #3DHEALS2018 conference on April 20-21st, 2018. 
Jenny: When was the first encounter you had with 3D printing? What was that experience like? What were you thinking at that moment?
Janis: The first time I encountered 3D printing was through a YouTube video. At the time I was working as a broker on wall street and my first thought was – what the hell am I doing here – this technology will change everything!
Jenny: What inspired you to start your journey in 3D printing (bio-fabrication/bio-printing)?
Janis: I saw an opportunity to bring that technology “home” to Northern Europe. This was my opportunity to move from advising people to actually manufacturing and I took the leap. Right now everything I do is revolving around additive manufacturing. The medical aspect of my work came as an unexpected pivot, but it was a welcome one. I truly believe that 3D printing and medical/bio-printing applications are the perfect fit – it is a space where you always need a custom product.

Jenny: Who inspired you the most along this journey in 3D printing (bio-printing/bio-fabrication)? This can be a mentor, a patient, a celebrity, anyone basically. You can name more than one as well.
Janis: I have been truly inspired by the work of Neri Oxman, who has been able to transfer nature forms to her 3D printed designs and products. Hugh Herr has a brilliant vision on how to envision the possibilities that technology can give you to replace a missing a limb. And Amy Karle has the most captivating approaches to combining 3D printing, art, technology, and biology.
Jenny: What motivates you the most for your work?
Janis: The first time my team gave a 3D printed prosthetic to a six-year-old boy and he was glimmering with pride. I saw at that moment that we have not only produced him a replacement limb, but we have given him a product that will let him stand out. He was excited to show it to everyone in his class at the kindergarten and not at all shameful of his different limb. I want to create more experiences like that.
Jenny: What is/are the biggest obstacle(s) in your line of work? If you have conquered them, what were your solutions?
Janis: Biggest obstacle – industry players interested in maintaining the status quo. Nothing can be harder than showing a new/different approach to professionals who believe that they are already doing the best job possible and that their personal way of doing things is the only right one. We never say we know better or that we can do better – we merely say there is another way – the digital way. But conveying the message the right way is a problem. The best way around is to educate. To educate about the benefits, the differences, and the challenges.
Jenny: What do you think is (are) the biggest challenge(s) in 3D Printing/bio-printing? What do you think the potential solution(s) is (are)?
Janis: Same as before. Trying to bring something new to the Prosthetics and Orthotics market is most difficult due to people not willing to change. My approach is to provide an alternative that does not necessarily replace the existing methods.
Jenny: What advice would you give to a smart driven college student in the “real world”? What bad advice you heard should they ignore?
Janis: My advice would be to try out as many things as possible while still at school. Our company has provided internships, training, and free 3D prints to any interested student. I believe there are many more options around that could be utilized to learn more about real work environments and the skills needed to thrive in them. Ask employers what they need – they will always give you an answer that you can work with to understand if you’re on the right path.
Jenny: What were/was the best investment you made in 3D printing/bio-printing/bio-fabrication?
Janis: My own companies! Establishing Baltic3D.eu and working on the WIDE project has been my two best investments.
Jenny: What were/was the worst investment you made in 3D printing/bio-printing/bio-fabrication?
Janis: Buying 3D Systems stock. 🙂
Jenny: What was/is the biggest risk you took in your career?
Janis: Changing the field of work and pursuing the 3D printing path. I have never looked back, but when I started there was no “path” to take – it was more like wandering around in the darkness.
Jenny: What do you enjoy in your spare time? What are you passionate about outside of your work/3d printing?
Janis: I enjoy spending time with my family. When not around them I spend my spare time doing sports like running or playing ice hockey. I enjoy watching movies and reading books. I also like to spend a sunny afternoon on the golf course.
Jenny: What does the word “3DHEALS” mean to you? =)
Janis: Health is a state of being; healthcare is just an industry; healing is the process of becoming healthier and improving one’s quality of life. I like how the word heals brings more meaning to the name of the event.
 
 
 

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