Page 20 - Spring 2024

BIOCOMPATIBLE INK ABSORBS

SOUNDWAVES TO HARDEN

3D-PRINTED SHAPES

Engineers at Duke University and Harvard The ability to print through tissue is thought
Medical School have developed a new to allow for many new applications in surgery
biocompatible ink that has the ability to solidify and therapy that currently involve invasive and
into various 3D shapes and structures by disruptive methods.
absorbing ultrasound waves rather than light.
Reference: West, P., Electronic Specifier, 1st. January
The ink is what is known as a sonicated ink,
or sono-ink, which as a blend of hydrogels,
microparticles and molecules that are designed
to react specifically to ultrasound waves.
Once injected into a target area a specialised
ultrasound printing probe transmits focused
ultrasound waves into the ink transforming it into
complex structures, such as bone-like scaffolds
and hydrogel bubbles that can be placed on body
organs.
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As ultrasound waves can penetrate over 100 times
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deeper than light while spacially confined, tissues,
bones and organs can be reached with a high
spacial precision that has not been possible light- Why not head down to our
based printing methods. This makes it particularly
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suitable for biomedical fields such as bone
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healing and heart valve repair.
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A recent application has been in chemotherapy
hand-picked articles
where a chemotherapy drug was introduced into
from around the web...
the ink, which was then delivered to a sample of
liver tissue. The resultant hydrogels successfully
released the chemotherapy into the liver tissue. institutionofelectronics.ac.uk

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