Full recording of this virtual summit gathering 76+ brilliant minds and 500 attendees from 17 countries, 329 organizations is now available for purchase until September 5th, 2020. A purchased recording will be available until May 1st, 2020.

The highly anticipated 3DHEALS 2020 Global Healthcare 3D Printing conference was set to happen at the heart of San Francisco. Due to the current COVID19 crisis, the organizer successfully transformed the multi-track global summit completely online.

What is a better time to polish your skills and getting ready for the next acceleration of your career in this pandemic than learning about cutting edge technology and connect with leaders that will become your mentor, collaborator, and co-founder?

Read about WHY it is even more important to “attend” this conference here.

Meet our 3DHEALS2020 Speakers before the virtual event on camera here, and on our new podcast series here. More technical and in-depth interviews can be found here.

Event Media Coverage:

3DHEALS 2020 Virtual Medical Summit: 3D-Printed Materials in Healthcare (3DPrint.com)

Reimagining Healthcare With 3D Printing (SME)

3DHEALS 2020 Virtual Medical Summit: Comprehensive Look at Craniomaxillofacial 3D Printing (3DPrint.com)

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“Bioprinting” is a well-known word now, thanks to burgeoning research papers and blogs on the theme. 3D bioprinting has been at the center point of activity and news hub, all thanks to the demonstrated potential. As more and more researchers join the bioprinting community, the promise that it brings to the table seems more realistic. When I started my research in this field five years back, I was amazed at the possibilities that bioprinting could bring to healthcare, biomedical and regenerative medicine. However, being trained as an electronics engineer, I saw something beyond the obvious. Could bioprinting help in combining two distinct fields of biology and electronics to create new avenues for healthcare? 

Bioelectronics is the area, which deals with interfacing electrical devices and circuits with biological materials and species. Pacemakers, artificial prosthetics, and implantable devices belong to this class that has been around for some time. However, most of the present day bioelectronics devices use rigid electronic components, which are a mismatch for soft human tissues. This incompatibility causes issues in the long run, for example, tissues scarring and infections. The vision has been to replace the rigid electronics with flexible and if possible soft electronics. Being an electronic engineer, I saw a huge potential where bioprinting can be put to use to achieve this target. 

I have been making small research efforts in this domain, where bioprinting is used to put down conformal electronics on biomaterials loaded with cells. The drop-on-demand bioprinting technique of microvalve is well-suited for printing low viscosity electronic conducting inks and hydrogels. This paves the way to fabricate external bioelectronic and even implantable devices that have Young’s modulus close to human tissues. The central idea is to encapsulate electronic between biomaterials that will support cell growth. Embedding electronics with biomaterials requires added functionality of biocompatibility, stability in wet environment and flexibility. Our paper “A novel 3D bioprinted flexible and biocompatible hydrogel bioelectronic platform” highlighted that bioprinting can achieve a 3D platform by printing successive layers of biomaterials and electronics. Bioprinting gives the freedom to use different nozzle sizes and control the pressure depending on the viscosity of the inks. This makes it possible to print low viscosity nanoparticle inks for electrical circuits in between layers of high viscosity biomaterials. 

Thus bioprinting functions as a novel tool for design innovation. One can, hence, see the potential of this technology other than in tissue engineering and organ fabrication. Bioprinting can well be a tool to make a new type of healthcare devices. A field that once was though a thing of future is quickly becoming reality, thanks to bioprinting. 

About the author

Shweta Agarwala is Assistant professor at Department of Engineering, Aarhus University (Denmark). Dr. Agarwala graduated in electronics engineering from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and obtained her Ph.D. in the same field from the National University of Singapore. Her research is directed towards printed electronics for flexible devices and bioelectronics. She is pioneering new routes to put electronics on unconventional surfaces to enable future generation healthcare. 

Related Articles:

3D Printing for the Human Organ Shortage: Putting Bio back into Bioprinting

3D Bioprinting: Chiasm of Art, Design, Science, Technology, and Evolution

3D Printing (and Bioprinting) will help healthcare with a quantum leap?

3D Bioprinting: Truth is Beautiful

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Dr. Alexander Seifalian is the Director and Professor of Nanotechnology & Regenerative Medicine, Nanotechnology and Regenerative Medicine Commercialisation Centre (Ltd) His current projects have led to the development of cardiovascular implants using nanomaterials and stem cell technology, and the development of organs using tissue engineering and nanoparticles for detection and treatment of cancer. He has also developed a family of nanomaterials and nanocomposite polymers for a range of biomedical applications.
He was awarded the top prize in the field for the development of nanomaterials and technologies for cardiovascular implants in 2007 by Medical Future Innovation, and in 2009 received a Business Innovation Award from UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) in the Life Sciences and Healthcare category.
More recently (2011), he developed a lacrimal drainage conduit, vascular bypass graft, and trachea made from nanocomposite polymers and stem cells and delivered them from the laboratory directly to patients. In addition, he is also taking a further three products to clinical trials within the next three year, which include a coronary artery bypass graft in 2012, a transcatheter heart valve in 2013 (both funded by the Wellcome Trust), and a nerve conduit for nerve regeneration funded by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB).
We are honored to have Professor Alexander Seifalian as our speaker for our upcoming London event on Feb 8th, 2018.
JC: When was the first encounter you had with 3D printing? What was the experience like? What were you thinking at that moment?
AS: The first encounter I had with 3D printing was when I bought my first 3D printer in 2009. I bought it online from the USA for $230 and put them together at home and just printing bits and pieces for fun. Later, printed 3D model of a heart valve from a CT scan. This was shown to cardiologists and they found it interesting for clinical application.
JC: What inspired you to start your journey/research in 3D printing (bio-fabrication/bioprinting)?
AS: I work on human organs using nanocomposite materials as a 3D scaffold and stem cells; my interest was to print human organs, including facial organs such as ear, nose, and trachea. I have obtained large grants from research councils working on 3D bioprinters.
JC: Who else inspired you the most along this journey in 3D printing (bioprinting/fabrication)? This can be a mentor, a patient, a celebrity, anyone basically. You can name more than one as well.
AS:  Initially, what inspired me was watching videos on “youtube”, just looking at various printing for industrial applications. Later on, a medical student who was doing his research project with me, Mr. Nicolaas van Rensburg, wanted to work on 3D printers to print 3D scaffolds for human applications in ear development. The first 3D printer we bought for work.
JC: What motivates you the most for your work?
AS: Positive outcomes are what motivates me the most, such as the benefits provided to the patients or to industries, within a defined timescale.
JC: What is/are the biggest obstacle(s) in your work? If you have conquered them, what were your solutions?
AS: As an academic, the biggest obstacle is always spending time chasing grants and finance as well as finding people with the same self-driven attitude as myself.
JC: What advice would you give to a smart driven student in the “real world”? What bad advice you heard should they ignore?
AS: I have successfully supervised 121 Ph.D. students during my academic career, my advice to all my students has always been to first spend at least 3-6 months reading and reviewing the proposed research, possibly also writing a critical review article, and then embarking on the research, by now knowing exactly what they want to do. Spend 70% of your time reading and writing and only 30% of your time in the lab.
The bad advice they should ignore is to just start by going into the lab and doing no reading to initially learn the subject.
JC: 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?
AS: Think hard about what you want to develop and ask the end user if they want such a product. At the same time, ensure they can afford it, both their time and the final cost.
JC: What were/was the best investment you made in 3D printing/bio-printing/bio-fabrication?
AS: Purchasing $300 worth of printer parts and putting it together.
JC: What was/is the biggest risk you took in your career?
AS: The risk I took was taking R&D forward came from avoiding some of the administrative paperwork.
JC: What do you enjoy in your spare time? What are you passionate about outside of your work/3d printing?
AS: In my spare time, I enjoy playing chess and reading innovative work carried out by smart individuals within society through thinking outside the box. At same time love going out and socializing.

Meet Dr. Seifalian at our upcoming London event.   

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