Scientists Build a Human Thumb from a 3D Printer
The era of human body part replacement has come a step closer to reality, thanks to our very own 3D printers. In the latest development, scientists from a hospital in Switzerland have built a human thumb, not just in shape and size, but also in composition.
This is how a body part (human thumb) is built – A 3D image of the other thumb impression is captured. This image is loaded into the 3D printer and a thumb model is built using the deposited materials. In this instance, the 3D printer was loaded with tricalcium phosphate and a type of polylactic acid – natural structural materials found in the human body.
The result is a bone that settles and grows into the biodegradable base, and hence taking the composition of the original bone.
This innovation paves way for reconstruction of other body parts, especially the most sought after ones like kidneys and lungs. All one would require is a 3D image of the part that needs to be constructed and putting together the materials that compose the body part, it is imaginable to build a body part.
However, the next stage will be to prove that these body parts built out of a 3D printer actually work as they should. Let’s keep our fingers crossed until proven.
About the author:
Abhinav has been blogging about printing and related technologies on CreativeCloud for several years. He is also a project manager for a large technology company.
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