Cytosurge FluidFM µ3Dprinter is world’s first sub-micron metal 3D printer

Cytosurge AG, based in Zurich Switzerland, presents their revolutionary FluidFM µ3Dprinter which is world’s first 3D sub-micron direct metal printing machine.

This 3D printer could be used as an advanced tool for development of many new scientific and engineering applications from biology to nanorobotics.
It is one of the first steps towards practical manufacturing of parts for nanobots floating in your body to repair the damaged cells.







From the video description:

At the forefront of nanotechnology, additive manufacturing, life sciences and single cell biology, Cytosurge FluidFM µ3Dprinter is the world’s first 3D printer capable of delivering sub-micron resolution in direct metal printing, while offering scalability and good prospects in both production cost and speed.

The FluidFM technology opens a new world for metal object manufacturing and enables research opportunities in fields such as microelectronics, semiconductors, surface modification, microbots, sensors, material science and many other fields. Virtually any design can be offered to the system, including overhanging structures with 90 degree angles, without support structures or post processing steps.

High-precision surface modification processes can also be executed by printing ultra-thin or structured objects and by depositing multiple metals at the target surface. With the FluidFM µ3Dprinter various metals like Cu, Ag, Au, Pt can be printed.

The printing of other metals (Sn, Cd, Cr, Ni etc.) and various alloys are under investigation.

Company homepage:

https://www.cytosurge.com/page/micro3dprinting

Read More

Skull shaped microscopic 3d printed bacterial cages

From the source:

By caging bacteria in microscopic houses, scientists at The University of Texas at Austin are studying how communities of bacteria, such as those found in the human gut and lungs, interact and develop infections.
In a recent experiment they demonstrated that a community of Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause some skin infections, became more resistant to antibiotics when it was contained within a larger community of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacteria involved in various diseases, including cystic fibrosis.
The work was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers use a novel 3-D printing technology to build homes for bacteria at a microscopic level. Their method uses a laser to construct protein "cages" around bacteria in gelatin. The resulting structures can be of almost any shape or size, and can be moved around in relationship to other structures containing bacterial microcommunities.
The method should enable an entirely new class of experiments that better approximate the conditions that bacteria encounter in actual biological environments, such as those in the human body.

Source and detailed info:

http://phys.org/news/2013-10-d-scientists-bacterial.html

Read More

LEGO2NANO challenge - making a DIY LEGO and 3d printed scanning microscope to study nano scale objects

Ultra-uber-cool! I hope for more improvements, final success in building it and that they open source it.

From project page:

The Challenge: “In one week, can 32 young scientists and designers from China and the UK develop a new type of low-cost scanning probe microscope, powerful enough to study the nano world? And can this device transform science education in Chinese high schools? Tsinghua University, Peking University and University College London team up with the LEGO Foundation to invent, make and market their ideas”
Experts said they couldn't do it… THEY NEARLY DID!

http://www.instituteofmaking.org.uk/blog/2013/09/lego2nano-the-lego-microscope-challenge

Read More