Doctors at the University of Wollongong developed a BioPen, which is designed to repair bone and cartilage injuries in the manner of a handheld 3D printer, via 3ders.org:
The BioPen prototype was designed and built using the 3D printer in the labs at the University of Wollongong. With the right mix of cells, growth factors, doctors could even draw replacement tissue that would eventually grow into functioning nerve or muscle tissue. The composition of the cell-loaded material can be surrounded by a polymer core to add structural strength to the surgical site. It can also be seeded with other drugs to assist regrowth and recovery.
The BioPen was this week handed over researchers at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne who will work on optimising the cell material for use in clinical trials, for exmaple to grow new knee cartilage from stem cells on 3D-printed scaffolds to treat cancers, osteoarthritis and traumatic injury.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell with Google Hangouts On-Air is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
