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Scientists use 3D printers to contain, study bacteria |
October 13, 2013
Like microscopic zoos, researchers have used 3D printers to make holding cells for communities of bacteria to see how they interact to spread disease.
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin used a digital light processing (DLP) projection system as the 3D printer to create gelatin holding cells, which are only about 30 micrometers (or microns) square or about three-quarters the diameter of a human hair.
The 3D printer was created by adapting a commercial computer projector and using the micro mirror chip inside to perform direct laser patterning of the gelatin and bacteria "ink."
UT AustinThis image shows the bacteria multiplying inside of a 3D printed gelatin cell.
"The bacteria were not made by this method; rather, they were suspended in the gelatin ink in a way somewhat similar to how fruit is sometimes suspended in JELLO," Jason Shear, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin, said in an email reply to Computerworld. "The gelatin walls were then made by linking gelatin molecules together in a process controlled by laser exposure."
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Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2054371/scientists-use-3d-printers-to-contain-study-bacteria.html#tk.rss_all
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