3D‐printed individual labware in biosciences by rapid prototyping: In vitro biocompatibility and applications for eukaryotic cell cultures

Three‐dimensional (3D) printing techniques are continuously evolving, thus their application fields are also growing very fast. The applications discussed here highlight the use of rapid prototyping in a dedicated biotechnology laboratory environment. The combination of improving prototypes using fused deposition modeling printers and producing useable parts with selective laser sintering printers enables a cost‐ and time‐efficient use of such techniques. Biocompatible materials for 3D printing are already available and the printed parts can directly be used in the laboratory. To demonstrate this, we tested 3D printing materials for their in vitro biocompatibility. To exemplify the versatility of the 3D printing process applied to a biotechnology laboratory, a normal well plate design was modified in silico to include different baffle geometries. This plate was subsequently 3D printed and used for cultivation. In the near future, this design and print possibility will revolutionize the industry. Advanced printers will be available for laboratories and can be used for creating individual labware or standard disposables on demand. These applications have the potential to change the way research is done and change the management of stock‐keeping, leading to more flexibility and promoting creativity of the scientists.     

Three-dimensional bio-printing

Three-dimensional(3D) printing technology has been widely used in various manufacturing operations including automotive, defence and space industries. 3D printing has the advantages of personalization, flexibility and high resolution, and is therefore becoming increasingly visible in the high-tech fields. Three-dimensional bio-printing technology also holds promise for future use in medical applications. At present 3D bio-printing is mainly used for simulating and reconstructing some hard tissues or for preparing drug-delivery systems in the medical area. The fabrication of 3D structures with living cells and bioactive moieties spatially distributed throughout will be realisable. Fabrication of complex tissues and organs is still at the exploratory stage. This review summarize the development of 3D bio-printing and its potential in medical applications, as well as discussing the current challenges faced by 3D bio-printing.     

3D打印技术在植物繁殖生态学中的应用进展与评述

3D打印(3D printing)是以数字化模型为基础,运用粉末状金属或塑料等可粘合材料,通过逐层打印的方式构造物体的一项技术。由于3D打印具有灵活和精密的特点,这一技术已经在军工、航天等制造行业中发挥了重要作用。鉴于3D打印的独特优势,该技术也可以在植物繁殖生态学研究中发挥作用而且具有广阔的应用前景,但目前还处于探索阶段。该文概述了3D打印技术以及植物繁殖生态学的花特征进化研究,同时总结了3D打印技术在植物繁殖生态学领域的最新研究进展,并探讨将来可能的发展方向。     

Where's the ecology in molecular ecology?

Molecular techniques have had a profound impact in biology. Major disciplines, including evolutionary biology, now consistently utilize molecular tools. In contrast, molecular techniques have had a more limited impact in ecology. This discrepancy is surprising. Here, we describe the unexpected paucity of ecological research in the field colloquially referred to as 'molecular ecology.' Publications over the past 15 years from the journals Ecology , Evolution and Molecular Ecology reveal that much of the research published under the molecular ecology banner is in fact evolutionary in nature, and that comparatively little ecological research incorporates molecular tools. This failure to more broadly utilize molecular techniques in ecology is alarming because several promising lines of ecological inquiry could benefit from molecular approaches. Here we summarize the use of molecular tools in ecology and evolution, and suggest several ways to renew the ecological focus in 'molecular ecology'.     

Reviews of Publications

Book reviewed in this article:
The Ecology of Ectoparasitic Insects, by Adrian Marshall
Effect of Heavy Metal Pollution on Plants, Volumes I & II, edited by N. W. Lepp
Mosses of South Australia, by D. G. Catcheside
Basic Structure and Evolution of the Vertebrates, Volumes 1 and 2, by Erik Jarvik
The Evolution of Air Breathing in Vertebrates, by D. J. Randall, W. W. Burggren A. P. Farrell & M. S. Haswell     

Book reviews

Book Reviewed in this article: Eucalypt Ecology: Individuals to Ecosystems Edited by Jann E. Williams and John C. Z. Woinarski Plant Variation and Evolution, 3rd edition D. Briggs and S. M. Walters Marsupial Biology: Recent Research, New Perspectives Edited by N. R Saunders and L. A. Hinds     

Yeast evolution and ecology meet genomics

The first EMBO Conference on Experimental Approaches to Evolution and Ecology in Yeast was held in Heidelberg, Germany, at the end of September 2010. What might sound like a rather narrow topic actually covered a broad range of interests, approaches, and systems and generated a great deal of excitement among participants. The applications of genomic methods to ecological and evolutionary questions emphasize that the yeasts are poised to make significant contributions to these fields.     

Enabling personalized implant and controllable biosystem development through 3D printing

The impact of additive manufacturing in our lives has been increasing constantly. One of the frontiers in this change is the medical devices. 3D printing technologies not only enable the personalization of implantable devices with respect to patient-specific anatomy, pathology and biomechanical properties but they also provide new opportunities in related areas such as surgical education, minimally invasive diagnosis, medical research and disease models. In this review, we cover the recent clinical applications of 3D printing with a particular focus on implantable devices. The current technical bottlenecks in 3D printing in view of the needs in clinical applications are explained and recent advances to overcome these challenges are presented. 3D printing with cells (bioprinting); an exciting subfield of 3D printing, is covered in the context of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine and current developments in bioinks are discussed. Also emerging applications of bioprinting beyond health, such as biorobotics and soft robotics, are introduced. As the technical challenges related to printing rate, precision and cost are steadily being solved, it can be envisioned that 3D printers will become common on-site instruments in medical practice with the possibility of custom-made, on-demand implants and, eventually, tissue engineered organs with active parts developed with biorobotics techniques.     

Book reviews

Book reviews in this article: Methods in Ecology: Strategies for Conservation K. S. Shrader-Frechette and E. D. McCoy. Behaviour and Social Evolution of Wasps: The Communal Aggregation Y. Itô.     

3D printing of microbial communities: A new platform for understanding and engineering microbiomes

3D printing has emerged as a powerful way to produce complex materials on-demand. These printing technologies are now being applied in microbiology, with many recent examples where microbes and matrices are co-printed to create bespoke living materials. Here, we propose a new paradigm for microbial printing. In addition to its importance for materials, we argue that printing can be used to understand and engineer microbiome communities, analogous to its use in human tissue engineering. Many microbes naturally live in diverse, spatially structured communities that are challenging to study and manipulate. 3D printing offers an exciting new solution to these challenges, as it can precisely arrange microbes in 3D space, allowing one to build custom microbial communities for a wide range of purposes in research, medicine, and industry.     

3D-Printed Drugs for Children—Are We Ready Yet?

The first medicine manufactured by three-dimensional (3D) printing was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The advantages of printing as a manufacturing route enabling more flexibility regarding the dose, and enlarging individual treatment options, have been demonstrated. There is a particular need for flexible drug delivery solutions when it comes to children. Printing as a new pharmaceutical manufacturing technology brings manufacturing closer to the patient and can easily be adjusted to the required dosing scheme, offering more flexibility for treatments. Printing of medicine may therefore become the manufacturing route of choice to provide tailored and potentially on-demand treatments for patients with individual needs. This paper intends to summarize and discuss the state of the art, the crucial aspects which should be taken into account, and the still-open questions, in order to make 3D printing a suitable manufacturing route for pediatric drugs.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Molecular Evolution: A Phylogenetic Approach, by Roderic D.M. Page and Edward C Holmes.
Readings in Ecology. Edited by Stanley I. Dodson, Timothy F. H. Allen, Stephen R. Carpenter. Kandis Elliot. Anthony R. Ives, Robert L. Jeanne, James F. Kitchell, Nancy E. Langston and Monica G. Turner.
Oxford Dictionary of Ecology, by Michael Allaby.     

Life cycle assessment of 3D printing geo‐polymer concrete: An ex‐ante study

Three‐dimensional (3D) printing and geo‐polymers are two environmentally oriented innovations in concrete manufacturing. The 3D printing of concrete components aims to reduce raw material consumption and waste generation. Geo‐polymer is being developed to replace ordinary Portland cement and reduce the carbon footprint of the binder in the concrete. The environmental performance of the combined use of the two innovations is evaluated through an ex‐ante life cycle assessment (LCA). First, an attributional LCA was implemented, using data collected from the manufacturer to identify the hotspots for environmental improvements. Then, scaled‐up scenarios were built in collaboration with the company stakeholder. These scenarios were compared with the existing production system to understand the potential advantages/disadvantages of the innovative system and to identify the potential directions for improvement. The results indicate that 3D printing can potentially lead to waste reduction. However, depending on its recipe, geo‐polymer likely has higher environmental impacts than ordinary concrete. The ex‐ante LCA suggests that after step‐by‐step improvements in the production and transportation of raw materials, 3D printing geo‐polymer concrete is able to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete components, while it does still perform worse on impact categories, such as depletion of abiotic resources and stratospheric ozone depletion. We found that the most effective way to lower the environmental impacts of 3D concrete is to reduce silicate in the recipe of the geo‐polymer. This approach is, however, challenging to realize by the company due to the locked‐in effect of the previous innovation investment. The case study shows that to support technological innovation ex‐ante LCA has to be implemented as early as possible in innovation to allow for maintaining technical flexibility and improving on the identified hotspots.     

Reviews of Publications

Avian Systematics and Taxonomy. Centenary Volume, edited by J. F. Monk.
The Ecology of Butterflies in Britain, edited by R. L. H. Dennis.
Evolution. A Biological and Palaeontological Approach, edited by P. Skelton.
Ethnobiological Classification. Principles of Categorization of Plants and Animals in Traditional Societies, by Brent Berlin.
The Discovery of Evolution, D. Young. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Natural History Museum Publications)
A Chronological Taxonomy of Conus, 1758–1840, by A. J. Kohn.
Biological Diversity of Mexico. Origins and Distribution, edited by T. P. Ramamoorthy, R. Bye, A. Lot and J. Fa.
Antarctic Fish Biology: Evolution in a Unique Environment, by J. T. Eastman.
Sawfly Life History Adaptations to Woody Plants, edited by M. Wagner and K. F. Raffa.
An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology 3rd Ed., by J. R. Krebs and N. B. Davies.
The Natural History of Selborne, by Gilbert White, compiled by R. Davidson-Houston.
Genes in Ecology, edited by R. J. Berry, T. J. Crawford and G. M. Hewitt.
Algae and Symbiosis, edited by W. Reisser.
Artificial Intelligence and Molecular Biology, edited by L. Hunter     

Advances in 3D printing of composite scaffolds for the repairment of bone tissue associated defects

The conventional methods of using autografts and allografts for repairing defects in bone, the osteochondral bone, and the cartilage tissue have many disadvantages, like donor site morbidity and shortage of donors. Moreover, only 30% of the implanted grafts are shown to be successful in treating the defects. Hence, exploring alternative techniques such as tissue engineering to treat bone tissue associated defects is promising as it eliminates the above-mentioned limitations. To enhance the mechanical and biological properties of the tissue engineered product, it is essential to fabricate the scaffold used in tissue engineering by the combination of various biomaterials. Three-dimensional (3D) printing, with its ability to print composite materials and with complex geometry seems to have a huge potential in scaffold fabrication technique for engineering bone associated tissues. This review summarizes the recent applications and future perspectives of 3D printing technologies in the fabrication of composite scaffolds used in bone, osteochondral, and cartilage tissue engineering. Key developments in the field of 3D printing technologies involves the incorporation of various biomaterials and cells in printing composite scaffolds mimicking physiologically relevant complex geometry and gradient porosity. Much recently, the emerging trend of printing smart scaffolds which can respond to external stimulus such as temperature, pH and magnetic field, known as 4D printing is gaining immense popularity and can be considered as the future of 3D printing applications in the field of tissue engineering.     

Patterned vascularization in a directional ice‐templated scaffold of decellularized matrix

Vascularization is fundamental for large‐scale tissue engineering. Most of the current vascularization strategies including microfluidics and three‐dimensional (3D) printing aim to precisely fabricate microchannels for individual microvessels. However, few studies have examined the remodeling capacity of the microvessels in the engineered constructs, which is important for transplantation in vivo. Here we present a method for patterning microvessels in a directional ice‐templated scaffold of decellularized porcine kidney extracellular matrix. The aligned microchannels made by directional ice templating allowed for fast and efficient cell seeding. The pure decellularized matrix without any fixatives or cross‐linkers maximized the potential of tissue remodeling. Dramatical microvascular remodeling happened in the scaffold in 2 weeks, from small primary microvessel segments to long patterned microvessels. The majority of the microvessels were aligned in parallel and interconnected with each other to form a network. This method is compatible with other engineering techniques, such as microfluidics and 3D printing, and multiple cell types can be co‐cultured to make complex vascularized tissue and organ models.     

Ecology and evolution join forces to good effect

The 3rd regular meeting of the Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution was held at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada from 11 to 14 May 2008.     

3D打印技术在周围型肺癌手术规划中的应用

目的:通过比较计算机断层扫描,三维重建图像和3D打印在手术中显示肺动脉分支的能力,探讨3D打印技术在周围型肺癌手术规划中的应用价值。方法:2018年1月-2018年12月,同一胸外科治疗组中接受电视胸腔镜择期右肺上叶切除手术的周围型肺癌患者30例。随机分为3组,每组10例,分别通过计算机断层扫描,三维重建图像和3D打印进行术前手术规划。分别记录每组手术规划中的右肺上叶动脉分支数目,然后将这些记录与术中实际所见进行比较。结果:各组间患者一般资料无统计学差异。所有患者均有完整的CT扫描、三维重建、3D打印和术中动脉分支数据,且都接受了VATS解剖性右肺上叶切除术,术中进行顺利,无中转开胸,无术中大出血,术后无明显并发症和围手术期死亡,皆顺利出院。CT组的右肺上叶动脉分支数量为1.5±0.52,3DI组为2.1±0.57,3DP组为2.2±0.63。CT组、3DI组和3DP组分别与手术中所见比较,CT组存在统计学差异(P=0.025),其他两组无统计学意义。结论:3D打印技术在周围型肺癌手术规划中的效果优于计算机断层扫描,比三维重建图像更加直观,建议推广。     

Structural and congenital heart disease interventions: the role of three-dimensional printing

Advances in catheter-based interventions in structural and congenital heart disease have mandated an increased demand for three-dimensional (3D) visualisation of complex cardiac anatomy. Despite progress in 3D imaging modalities, the pre- and periprocedural visualisation of spatial anatomy is relegated to two-dimensional flat screen representations. 3D printing is an evolving technology based on the concept of additive manufacturing, where computerised digital surface renders are converted into physical models. Printed models replicate complex structures in tangible forms that cardiovascular physicians and surgeons can use for education, preprocedural planning and device testing. In this review we discuss the different steps of the 3D printing process, which include image acquisition, segmentation, printing methods and materials. We also examine the expanded applications of 3D printing in the catheter-based treatment of adult patients with structural and congenital heart disease while highlighting the current limitations of this technology in terms of segmentation, model accuracy and dynamic capabilities. Furthermore, we provide information on the resources needed to establish a hospital-based 3D printing laboratory.