VIP Project: Bioprinting

TLDR (AKA What Are We Making!?):

Answer: a 3D printer that prints soft (think gooey) materials. These materials could be cells (used to make organs, like a heart) or interesting materials that have no good uses at the moment (stretchable conductive plastics that decompose when exposed to water?!).

If you are interested in 3D Printing, Biomedical Engineering, or weird materials and are a curious, hardworking / dedicated student, this could be the project for you!

Goals:

Build a FRESH-style bioprinter from an existing FDM 3D Printer. This printer will serve as the test bed for developing (a) new applications (e.g. printing cells, soft materials, etc.) and (b) new types of printing technologies for advanced functional materials.

The team will initially focus on designing, building, and testing the printer. Once complete, the team will focus on applications using the printer.

Motivation:

The Ray Research Group is developing new types of additive manufacturing processes for producing multifunctional materials. Nanoscale materials exhibit many interesting material properties (gold nanorods change colors based upon length) on account of their size. If you try to scale these materials into macroscale materials (such as I-Beams), you lose these unique properties. Additive manufacturing offers a compelling way to print objects comprised of these otherwise hard to use materials.

This VIP team provides student training in advanced manufacturing concepts, materials processing, and device integration / engineering with a focus on problems related to clear societal need (e.g. medicine). Students not only have the opportunity to learn the skills in transformative technologies necessary to compete in the global marketplace, but also the ability to make clear advancements in a rapidly evolving field.

Advisor:

Dr. Tyler Ray
Assistant Professor
Mechanical Engineering

Majors, preparation, interests:

Majors: Mechanical Engineering / Electrical Engineering / Civil Engineering

Preparation: some experience in machining, building devices, using sensors, device engineering, prototyping, component design, electronics design, computer programming, chemistry, biology.

Interests: interest/background in programming, image processing, data communication, 3D printing, bioengineering, biomedical engineering

Students should be curious, self-motivated to learn, willing to try new things, and be passionate about the project.

Contact information:

Dr. Tyler Ray, raytyler at hawaii dot edu

Links for More Info on the Printer:

https://engineering.cmu.edu/news-events/news/2018/03/23-bioprinter-feinberg.html

https://healthtechmagazine.net/article/2018/07/cmu-engineers-find-innovative-way-make-low-cost-3d-bioprinter

https://www.jove.com/video/59477/three-dimensional-patterning-engineered-biofilms-with-do-it-yourself

https://3dprint.com/221040/open-source-bioprinter-experiment/

Expectations for Joining the Team

• Safety

  • Work practices and attitude (including lab cleanliness)

• Professionalism

  • Complete tasks on time

  • Commitment to the success of the project

  • Follow protocol and directions

  • Provide a meaningful contribution

  • Responsiveness

  • Attendance and punctuality

  • Multi-year commitment

• Time (Expected average weekly commitment 3 times the credit hours)

  • 1 Credits: 3 hours per week (ENGR 196)

  • 2 Credits: 6 hour per week (ENGR 296, ENGR 396, ENGR 496)

  • 3 Credits: 9 hours per week (EE 496, ME 213, ME 482)

  • 4 Credits: 12 hours per week (ME 481)

• Team Meetings

  • Program manager, team captains, and subsystems leads are responsible for organizing the official weekly meeting time that best accommodates all team member each new semester

• Documentation

  • Design notebook/journal

    • Detailed accounting of your design work and contributions (successes and failures)

    • Examples and information at: http://vip.vcu.edu/Students/Design-Notebooks

  • Formal Reports

    • Several formal reports that depend on the semester (Fall vs Spring) and the course you are registered for (e.g. EE 496 has a poster session and video, ME 213 has report requirements, etc.)

    • You are expected to contribute to other reports as necessary. (e.g. if an EE 496 or ME 481 student needs some background content.)

  • Final “Instruction Manual”

    • Teach the next generation why you did what you did and how to use or apply your contribution.

  • Oral Presentations

    • Several oral presentations (from formal to design reviews)

(Borrowed from VIP Team Kanaloa)