Vol 2 Chapter 1909: Cell-level difficulty

Remember for a second【】

Biological 3D printing technology is a frontier field that scientists from all over the world are scrambling to study. This technology is known as a key medical project that is expected to break through the limit of human lifespan, and it is also a cutting-edge technology that various pharmaceutical giants and various biotechnology laboratories are scrambling to conquer.

Although this technology is very hot, many laboratory research institutions and pharmaceutical giants have invested in this research, and a series of so-called laboratory results have also appeared, but they are only results, and no one has ever announced that they have successfully conquered this technology. .

And Wu Hao actually announced this news at the influential annual press conference this time, how can it not attract everyone's attention and interest.

As for Wu Hao, he continued to introduce with a smile: "There are two key technical difficulties in biological 3D printing technology. First, you must have a printing machine capable of biological 3D printing. This is not like our ordinary printers and 3D printers. It is a special medical printer based on biological cells.

There is no successful case of this kind of printer in the world at present, so we can only explore by ourselves, refer to the relevant principles of other existing printers, and conduct continuous exploration experiments.

How to print biological cells into living and functional organs is a problem that we have been researching. Biological cells are not ordinary printing consumables. They have vitality. How to make these vigorous cells spliced ​​together in an orderly manner and form functional living organs.

There are too many technical problems that need to be solved. This is like when we use 3D printers to print objects, we need consumables, and then these consumables are melted by high temperature, and then sprayed out from a special printing nozzle. Depending on the spatial location, Gradually increase the stack, and finally print the designed object.

The principle of the light-curing 3D printer is actually the same as that of the stacked printer, but it uses resin materials, and then uses the principle of ultraviolet light curing to cure the resin in the required position, and finally prints the required objects.

As for our biological 3D printer, we must refer to the advantages and disadvantages of these two technologies, and finally choose a technical method suitable for biological cell printing.

In the end, after our continuous research and experimentation on the two printing methods, we chose a more suitable stacking printing technology to apply to the biological 3D printing technology.

And refer to the principle of ordinary 3d stacking printer to develop our biological 3d printer. "

Having said this, Wu Hao paused for a while, then took a breath, and then continued: "Although the technical principle of 3D printers is very simple, it is nothing more than using three-dimensional space coordinates to stack consumables and finally form the required objects. shape.

But if you want to print a perfect enough object, you must require the printer to have enough printing accuracy. The printing accuracy determines the fineness and accuracy of the object, whether it can be printed as designed, and the printed object is fine and glossy. If the printing accuracy is not enough, the printed objects will be very rough, and may even be partially missing, deformed, and stacked. "

"As we all know, the organs and tissues in our body are very precise, and there are countless kinds of somatic cells arranged in an orderly manner. If the printing accuracy of the biological 3D printer is not enough, it will not be able to print healthy and sound products. Living ** official organization.

As we all know, the somatic cells that make up our human body are very small, only a few microns and tens of microns, and the largest is only one or two hundred microns. This also leads to the fact that such cells are very small. What is the concept? 1 micron is equal to 0.001 millimeter, and 1000 microns is equal to one millimeter. The largest cell is one or two hundred microns, which is only 0.2 millimeters, which is almost invisible to the naked eye.

To use these biological cells to print the required organs and tissues, the accuracy of the printer is very high, that is to say, the printing accuracy of this printer is at least higher than the diameter of a single somatic cell, which is 0.001 mm.

Don't look at the fact that humans have already manufactured nano-scale chips, but in terms of biological cell printing, this is definitely a cutting-edge technology field, and few people have made breakthroughs.

The printing accuracy is enough, then the next thing to be solved is how to develop a printing nozzle that can print organs and tissues, which is the core of the entire biological 3D printer.

How to use these cells with a diameter of several microns and tens of microns to print organs and tissues requires a special biological cell printing nozzle. This nozzle must be very thin, so that it can accommodate these tens of microns and several microns in order. pass through.

Because of the different sizes of these cells, a single printing nozzle cannot do the job. Therefore, on the entire biological 3D printer, six to ten printing nozzles of different specifications are required, ranging from extremely fine nozzles of a few microns to more than ten microns. Nozzle, tens of microns, one or two hundred microns. And these somatic cells have different shapes, such as spherical, square, columnar, etc., so different styles of nozzles are needed to accommodate these somatic cells.

These printing nozzles will select and print according to the preset printing data, and print these cells of different sizes and shapes according to relevant requirements. This not only has extremely strict requirements on the intelligent control system of the entire biological 3D printer, but also has very strict requirements on the printing accuracy and the cooperation between these different specifications of printing nozzles.

Secondly, there is another problem that cannot be ignored, that is, the consumables we use for printing are all cells. These cells are originally dynamic. How to store these somatic cells, and then how to make them print smoothly through the nozzle, and these cells themselves do not There will be congestion, extrusion, necrosis, etc. This puts forward very high requirements for the entire consumable supply system of this biological 3D printer.

Dear, this chapter is not over, there is another page ^0^