Engineers from MIT, including team leader Siddharth Krishnan, are paving the way when it comes to 3D printed medicine. The team recently created a chip with a 3D-printed component that can be embedded under the skin. This 3D-printed mechanism is able to release medicinal contents when the device is triggered by a wireless command.
According to the news publication shared by MIT, there are potential use cases for this technology in quite a few areas of medicine. For example, the device could be used to help diabetic patients receive critical doses of medicine automatically when they need it. It can also be used to deliver medicine to patients while they sleep.
In the case of diabetic patients, the chip is designed to hold powdered glucagon inside a 3D-printed reservoir. The patient's blood sugar can be monitored separately and remotely. If the blood sugar drops too low, the chip can be triggered wirelessly to release the glucagon when the patient needs it most.
The 3D printed reservoir is closed using a nickel-titanium alloy. The chip can be programmed to heat this alloy when wirelessly triggered, which causes the alloy to bend into a U shape. This releases the medicine into the patient's body. At the moment, the chip is a work in progress, but it's still far enough along to support multiple doses.
The team confirmed they were able to use up to four doses of glucagon on a single chip which lasted for four weeks during the test processes. They are hoping to increase this duration to as much as a year. The current models are undergoing trials on mice but the team plans extend to human clinical trials in a few years.
We unfortunately don't know exactly what type of filament they used for this project. We also don't know what type of 3D printer was used in its creation, but we do have a list of the best 3D printers that we recommend for anyone interested in dabbling in the hobby. Sure, you won't be printing any subdermal chips any time soon, but a Benchy will get you one step closer.
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