University of Toronto professor Matt Ratto and his Critical Making lab are helping an international charity apply recent advances in 3D scanning and 3D printing technology to help Ugandan children receive inexpensive prosthetic limbs quickly.
Many of you will have seen, and likely been inspired by, the developments of the Robohand project over the course of this year. It has served as a bench mark in many ways, not least in that it has prompted an ever more common occurrence in the world of 3D printing, where people from different walks of life have collaborated to provide something unique, something once unfeasible and cost-prohibitive, for a person in need. Another uplifting story along these lines centres around a little girl in Huntsville, Alabama, who has been the beneficiary and muse for individuals from Zero Point Frontiers attempting to create a workable substitute for the four missing fingers on her left hand. The toddler, Kate Berkholtz can be seen in a local news report playing and tumbling around with her brother in a Huntsville gym for children. She appears quite ambivalent to the fact that she was born without four digits, but Angel Hundley knew she could provide succor for the rambunctious toddler. Angel’s husband, Jason Hundley, is president of the engineering company Zero Point Frontiers and had recently witnessed a presentation from an intern, Shawn Betts, detailing possibilities with 3D printing. Kate’s parents, shunning surgical options, embraced the idea of using 3D printed models and prototypes as substitute digits for their daughter.
A group of biomedical engineers from Jhpiego and Momo Scientific have developed a device designed to fight cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is responsible for about 275,000 deathseach year, with most of the deaths occurring in developing countries. The new device, called a “CryoPop,” was designed in a CAD program and prototyped on a 3D printer.
A 37-year-old Malaysian man has now joined the growing number of people worldwide whose lives have been significantly improved by 3D Printing. Suffering from a badly healed broken arm, which he fractured at a young age, he developed a bony deformity in the left forearm. This led to stiffness and pain when using his left hand and he was left unable to perform tasks as simple as picking up a plate or opening a door. Now, thanks to Dr. Ranjit Singh Gill from Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur and the 3D Printing experts at Materialise, he can look forward to a fully functional future once more. Using virtual surgical planning and 3D printed surgical guides, for the first time in Malaysia, this complex case turned into a surgical reality on June 4th 2013.
The BIOFABRIS is a National Institute of S&T in Biomanufacturing of multidisciplinary,
located at the Chemical Engineering Campus of UNICAMP, character that aims to integrate computational tools, synthesis and development of new biomaterials and application of engineering techniques to obtain biomedical devices (prostheses and orthopedic orthoses) and substitutes for live biological tissues or defective or missing human organs.