A study published in Nature is paving the way for more effective use of biocompatible materials, particularly in restoring cartilage. Cartilage is notoriously difficult to restore, as it requires a balance of mechanical strength and flexibility that are difficult to reproduce.

Dr. Uwe Spetzger, a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery of the Klinikum Karlsruhe in Germany says that the first time ever, a patient suffering with a degenerative cervical spine issue has received a 3D printed, “titanium fusion” implant.  

Engineers in Germany have built a biologically inspired artificial hand with muscles made from bundles of 'smart' wires. An electric charge is all that's needed to make these wires tense or relax, meaning the hand can operate without the bulky and cumbersome electronics that often make artificial prosthetic hands impractical.

Alexander Meining, MD and a team from University of Ulm in Germany invented a 3D printed overtube device with two arms which allows one arm to hold tissue down while the other arm can cut.

The INDMATEC HPP 155 is a FDM 3D printer capable of printing high temperature polymeric materials (1.75 mm) – and specifically conditioned for printing PEEK.

A German company created an IndieGoGo campaign to create filaments that could be used to create custom sized drug prescriptions based on patient size, weight, age, etc.

Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany, have developed a new kind of display called Linespace. This 3D printed display is more of on-demand image printing which can help blind people to re-discover what the actual world feels like.

German Paralympian cyclist, Denise Schindler will be using 3d Printed leg prosthetic for 2016 Rio Olympics. AutoDesk will be providing her with replacement prosthetic, and she believes it is far better as previous plaster prosthetic was slow to produce and relatively expensive.

A group of German engineers at the University of Stuttgart led by Dr. Timo Gissibl have developed a process for creating a functional micro-camera lens. The triple lens optical head is only about 100 micrometers wide and can be can be injected into the human body with a standard syringe needle allowing for the internal examination of microscopic structures.

Team of researchers from Institute for Integrative Nanosciences at IFW Dresden, Germany, have developed spermbots, a tiny metal helix that attaches to individual sperm cells and help them move. Fit over sperm cells to treat infertility, team used 3D laser lithography to create the helix.

The first ever Industrial 3D Printer for Silicones by Germany’s Wacker Chemie will be showcased at “K 2016” trade fair on 19th October at Düsseldorf / Germany. The “ACEO” Imagine Series K printer uses a drop-on-demand method where tiny silicone droplets are deposited on a substrate by layering process to produce a homogeneous product that does not differ much from injection-moulded parts.

Team of researchers at German Chemical Company, Evonik have developed 3d printed biocompatible implants as a substitute for metal implants with advantage of easy absorbability by human body. This 3D Printed biocompatible material will slowly dissolve inside bone as it heals, thereby eliminating need for surgical procedure.

KLS Martin Group, a German medical-supply company will be opening its first U.S manufacturing facility in Jacksonville, according to Rick Scott’s Office. While the focus of the new operations will be on precision 3D printing and milling of products for reconstructive surgery, Tom Johnston of KLS Martin Manufacturing stated that the Jacksonville plant will not only be the first in North America, but the company’s first outside of Germany.

Students at Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich and the Technical University of Munich formed up a team called Team BiotINK and have discovered a way of 3d printing without going through scaffold formation. Using ultimaker 2+ 3d printer and biotink with streptavidin, the 3d printing can now be done without scaffolds and hence reducing the cost of 3d printing.

One roadblock to 3D printing complete, functional organs lies in our inability to ensure the engineered tissue will be well nourished with an accessible blood supply.  Presently we have seen attempts at recreating arteries and veins, but successfully ensuring blood flow deep into tissue to the level of the capillary beds has proven elusive. A group of bioengineers and clinicians have pioneered a technique allowing them to print a fibrin patch containing organized endothelial cells, the cellular linining of blood vessels. Not only did the printed patch enhance blood vessel formation, but the engineered vascular tissue actually integrated with the host's own vasculature, improving tissue perfusion of damaged tissues. This research provides a novel technique that may permit printing of larger blocks of tissue and even organs.

Researchers from Institute for Integrative Nanosciences (IIN) at IFW Dresden in are working to develop a Biohybrid Sperm Microbot, which could be used in the future to deliver anti-cancer drugs like doxorubicin hydrochloride to cancerous tumors in women’s reproductive tracts, and help in cancer like Cervical Cancer. The tests had already been successful, the team is just working to make the invisible drug delivery system a bit more accessible to hospitals and simultaneously monitor the spermbot’s movement inside the body in real time.

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.

18-year-old Noor Fadil was diagnosed with Chondromyxoid fibroma, a rare, benign bone tumor that has grown in her pelvis, for which she reached out to Yellow Ribbon Team in Bangalore, India. The team of Doctors collaborated with Bangalore-based Osteo3D and implantcast GmbH in Germany. The surgeons removed the tumor and followed up for two years, and then team took CT and MRI scans to create a realistic digital model for planning purposes and to help design a biocompatible, patient-specific, 3D printed implant. The team designed and used 3D printed plastic guidance jigs and the First Ever Pelvic Implant of country helped her start a new life.

German Researchers used SLA 3D Printer to create much realistic model for Case Scenarios based on the CBCT of the maxilla of a real patient that imitated several traumatic dental injuries, which was then used in a hands-on training course on Dental traumatology for undergraduate students in their final year in the Department of Conservative Dentistry and Periodontology in Munich, Germany. While half of the students were provided with access to dentaltraumaguide.org, the others didn’t. The students were then evaluated, where 57% reported it to be ‘very realistic’ and 43% choosing ‘rather realistic’, therefore concluding that 3D Printed Dental Models assisted students in correctly managing traumatic dental injuries.

This year’s IDS Summit 2019 held at Cologne, Germany, saw collaboration between California’s Nexa3D, a manufacturer of 3D printers offering stereolithography (SLA) for production-grade users, and BEGO, a provider of materials for dentist’s offices. Together, they are marketing the Varseo XL, to be sold by BEGO, headquartered in Germany. The new dental 3D printer is customized with Nexa3D’s proprietary Lubricant Sublayer Photo-curing (LSPc) technology, which functions via a high-speed light matrix, and will allow dental offices to print six times faster at ten times the volume, with a print area that is five times greater than any other dental 3D printer on the market. The Varseo XL will be showcased at IDS 2019 at booth M20/N29 – Hall 10.2, Koelnmesse, Fair Grounds, Cologne-Deutz until the fair closes on March 19, 2019.

TRUMPF, a German High-Tech Company launched a new 3D Printer- TruPrint 2000, at Frankfurt’s Formnext 2019, which is believed to be compatible with environment of aerospace, automotive, mechanical engineering, tool and mold making, as well as the medical and dental engineering industries. The machine processes the printing powder in an inert gas environment, which prevents contaminants from infiltrating the powder circuit and is a key advantage for applications such as sensitive medical devices. The TruPrint 2000 features a multilaser design with two 300-watt lasers working in tandem and is capable of printing parts out of Titanium. Additionally, the machine includes automated powder bed and melts pool quality monitoring, notification in the event of an error, and an end-to-end documentation trail.