Medical 3D Printing & Bioprinting
Two professors at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering, Guillermo Ameer and Cheng Sun, have developed a method of 3D printing patient-specific vascular stents that are both flexible and biodegradable. These 3D printed stents can be pre-loaded with drugs that are released at site of implant, shortening the healing process in the walls of blood vessels. Meanwhile the unique polymer material allows the stent to exercise its mechanical function during the vessel’s initial dilation but slowly dissolve as the re-opened blood vessel recovers.