PROPEL project: 3D Light Printing and its Biomedical Applications
Our project is the 3D light printing of drug delivery systems (DDSs) for personalized medicine. This field has revolutionized the modern world and continues to be an inexhaustible source of new applications.
The objective of this project is to develop biocompatible and 3D printable formulations that can undergo radical polymerization in a layer-by-layer 3D printing process. Subsequent to the development of suitable formulations, on-demand DDSs (e.g., drug eluting implants or scaffold) with precise geometry, size, drug dosage and customizable release profiles will be printed based on a range of 3D models.
The undergraduate students will assist graduate students and PIs in conducting experiments, collecting data, and analyzing the data and resin formulation.
We look for students who have a strong interest and motivation to work in similar areas, like hand-on experience, and have a hard-working attitude.
3D printing technology intersects with personalized medicine as it can create bespoke DDSs that take each patient’s individual variabilities into account. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the first 3D printed drug SPRITAM for the cure of epilepsy (marketed by Aprecia Pharmaceuticals in 2015), has prompted increasing interest in using 3D printing in personalized medicine. Thus far, 3D printing technology has showed great promise in pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, especially for oral solid dosage, transdermal delivery and drug eluting implants. Nevertheless, the use of 3D printing in personalized medicine is still in its early stage of development and there are several challenges on its path to mainstream adoption. One of the foremost challenges (prior to regularity clearance and clinical trials) is the selection of appropriate 3D technologies and formulations suitable for the pharmaceutical product.
This interdisciplinary project leads to future manufacturing technology for human medicine. Students and researchers in this project will learn and explore the future of drug printing from the perspectives of materials, polymer science, biomedical engineering, data science, and manufacturing engineering.