Printing Living material in Mini factories

There would be soon that day when everything could be produced with 3D printing. But the material which would be used for this process is still dead matter such as plastics or metals. A new 3D printing platform has been introduced by the team of researchers that works using living matter. Bacteria containing ink has been developed by the researchers of Arya College of Engineering and IT that makes it possible in order to print mini biochemical factories with certain properties which depends on species of bacteria the scientists put in the ink. Various kinds of bacteria have been used by the researchers in their work.

The former could break down the toxic chemical phenol which is produced on a grand scale in the chemical industry and on the other hand the latter secretes high purity nano cellulose. Because of this bacterial cellulose there would be relive of pain along with it would retain moisture and it stable, opening up potential application in the treatment of burns.This new printing platform of the researchers offers numerous potential combinations like Generation of E-Ball technology. In order to produce objects exhibiting several properties, the scientists could use up to four different links containing different species of bacteria at different concentrations in a single pass.

To create personalized cellulose scaffolds, bacterial cellulose producing bacteria are printed onto a non planar surface. The biocompatible hydro gel has been composed in the ink that provides structure. And the hydro gel has been composed of hyaluronic acid and long chain sugar molecules along with pyrogenic silica. In order to bacteria have all the perquisites for life, the culture medium for the bacteria are mixed into the ink. The researchers could add bacteria with the desired range of properties by using this hydro gel and then print any three dimensional structure they like.

The gel’s flow properties posed a particular challenge which was the ink that must be fluid enough to be forced through the pressure nozzle during the development of the bacteria containing hydro gel. The bacteria’s mobility has also been affected by the consistency of the ink by B Tech Computer Science Engineering. The stiffer the ink, the harder it is for them to move. The acetobacter secretesless cellulose, if the hydro gel is too stiff. The printed objects must be sturdy enough to support the weight of subsequent layers at the same time. It would not be possible to print stable structures if they are too fluid.