Healthtech Stage: Materials for 3D printed organs
The range of talks at Med-Tech Innovation Expo means that there is something everyone. Whether you’re a manufacturer, a company representative or simply an interested visitor, Med-Tech Innovation Expo has something for you.
On day one at the Healthtech Stage, professor Alexander Seifalian of NanoRegMed will talk about how medical devices and potentially 3D printed organs can be developed using graphene nanomaterials.
Currently, the repair or replacement of many human organs including facial organs, trachea or coronary artery bypass grafts is an unmet clinical need.
Additive manufacturing or 3D printing has been regarded by many as a real possibility for the production of organs to be used for transplant. However, whilst the technology offers many benefits for healthcare, there are currently not many materials that can be used for human implantation due to their toxicity.
Professor Seifalian has worked on the development of a family of nanocomposite materials for biomedical applications based on functionalised reduced graphene oxide (FRGO). Graphene is considered as a wonder material as it is the strongest material on the planet, very elastic and conductive.
In his talk, professor Seifalian will outline the properties of the functionalised reduced GO material and how it can be used as a building block for nanocomposite materials. He will discuss how the materials could be fabricated into human organs as the scaffold created from them is functionalised with bioactive molecules and stem cells technology