With Project RAMA (Reconstituting Asteroids into Mechanical Automata), Made in Space with Additive Manufacturing plans to convert free floating asteroid into spacecraft. Earth has always suffered lack of minerals, and these asteroids with guided 3D Printing on them will force them transport themselves to mining facilities.

Endocon, a Germany-based medical device company and a GE Additive customer, has started 3D Printing a new device called Acetabular Cup Cutter for surgeons to remove hip replacement cups with cost-effectiveness and product reliability with better surgical experience. Using GE Additive’s Concept Laser Mlab Cusing 100R, which uses direct metal laser melting (DMLM) technology, Endocon 3D prints the blades for its endoCupcut in 17-4 PH stainless steel.

A group of researchers compared conventional and digital additive manufacturing of hard occlusal stabilization splints (SS) using technical and clinical parameters and 14 subjects underwent sequence of tests and questionnaires for 12 weeks. On a scaled of great discomfort,  Conventional had a score of 42 while Additive Manufacturing performed 15, meaning 3D Printed Stabilization Splints are far more comfortable and preferred over the conventional ones.

Additive Manufacturing Strategies event will be going live on 29^th-31^st January, 2018 in Boston, which will revolve around the trends and future of 3D Printing in Medicine and Dentistry. With workshops, startup competitions and exhibitions, SmarTech analysts giving overviews of developments; the event will aim consultants, business development people, leaders in manufacturing and operations people who have a significant role in future of 3D Printing in medical field.

A Research paper was recently published by Preethy Ani Jose, with the Oxford College of Pharmacy, and Peter Christopher GV, from pharmaceutical company Strides Shasun Limited in Bangalore, concerning the challenges faced by Pharmaceuticals when being introduced with 3D Printing. The paper presents regulatory agencies expectations, limitations, problems in establishing such setups for production of drug products, etc. The research paper also discusses how 3D Printing faces challeneges such as proper testing of Design and Manufacturing Process Considerations, validating the 3D printing process and software to determine the level of accuracy, and documentation in order to confirm that any products conform to existing guidelines.

A 3D Printing Course Additive was released by Researchers from US and Canada, further strengthening the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2018 Hands-On 3D printing course, which aims at creating 3D Printed cranio-maxillofacial (CMF), orthopaedic, and renal cancer models using 3D Printing, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). The image processing was provided by Mimics inPrint, allowing the researchers to fabricate anatomic regions of interest from the DICOM data. Three cases were followed: Pelvic fracture, Mandible tumour and Kidney tumour where 3D printed models were used to plan the pre-operative as well as reduce time and increase efficacy of the surgeries.

A team of researchers, led by Dr. Wong from NUS National Centre for Oral Health, received a grant from the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster (NAMIC). With the grant received, the team worked towards creating a method for combining materials in order to create 3D printed impacted tooth models that include pulp, the pulp chamber, nearby nerves, and simulated periodontal ligaments, followed by mounting of the 3D printed model onto a mannequin head that features artificial cheeks. The 3D Printed Models of the Dentations will help the students practice the surgical procedures and thereby, boost the confidence for the real ones when the opportunity comes.

Global Advanced Metals (GAM) is a leading supplier of tantalum powder solutions for metals additive manufacturing, and has been certified “Conflict-Free” since 2010 with exclusive rights to the world’s largest tantalum reserves in Western Australia. The company now plans to showcase the benefits of tantalum in medical devices at the Additive Manufacturing Strategies event held at Boston in February 2020. Third Party Researches have shown Tantalum to possess high biocompatibility, no measurable toxicity, osteointegration and elastic modulus properties similar to bone. GAM’s tantalum powders are suitable for printing via most additive manufacturing processes including laser powder bed fusion, electron beam melting, binder jetting and direct energy deposition.