Nano Dimension Partners with Zuken, Files Patent Application for 3D Bioprinted Kidney Structures

Nano Dimension has been all over the news lately as they continue to send out beta units of the Dragonfly 2020 electronic circuit board 3D printer; they recently announced that they met their Q1 goal by shipping out six of the printers so far this year. As the company prepares to release the Dragonfly 2020 to the wider public, they’ve made it clear that they’re by no means slowing down in terms of improving their product or venturing into new areas of 3D printing altogether.

Nano Dimension has announced that they will be partnering with Zuken, a multinational corporation that provides software solutions and consulting services to the electrical and electronics design and manufacturing industry. Under the terms of the agreement, Nano Dimension will be leveraging Zuken’s CR-8000 Design Force, a native 3D, system-level design solution for printed circuit boards (PCBs).

“Zuken’s CR-8000 Design Force retains all the detailed data needed for 3D printing and allows export direct to manufacturing or 3D printing, without losing integrity,” said Humair Mandavia, Chief Strategy Officer of Zuken USA. “Nano Dimension’s 3D printers are typical of the many applications we envisioned when we pioneered native 3D design for manufacturing.”

According to Zuken, Design Force is the fastest and most effective PCB design software available on the market today, offering accelerated graphics and near-instant rendering and refreshing. It’s also the only PCB design tool that allows users to specify unique rules for materials, meaning that no extra steps are required when printing with silver or other conductive materials. Nano Dimension expects the solution to speed up prototyping and improve user experience for customers.

“It has been an amazing few years for our company as we’ve fielded interest in our technology,” said Simon Fried, Chief Business Officer at Nano Dimension. “We’re excited about working with Zuken to harness Design Force and take our products even further, giving our users a seamless experience from design to output and optimization.”

Zuken also offers a DFM inkjet module that optimizes CAD data for inkjet printers.

It’s not all electronics with Nano Dimension these days, though. February was a busy month for the company, as they announced both that they would be pursuing the development of ceramic inkjet 3D printing technology and launching a new bioprinting subsidiary. This week, Nano Dimension has some more news on the bioprinting front – they’ve filed a patent application with the US Patent and Trademark office for the development of inkjet 3D printing technology that will create complex, multilayered structures composed of cells, extracellular matrices, supportive components and stable and fugitive inks.

Specifically, the patent application involves bioprinted kidney-like structures that filter whole blood flow in the same way that actual kidneys do. In a sense, Nano Dimension would be 3D printing artificial kidneys composed of biological material. The complex 3D printed structures would mimic the blood filtration process that takes place within the kidney’s nephron. Nano Dimension believes that their technology could lead to lifesaving organ transplants, as well as serving a purpose in drug development research and toxicology. Discuss in the Nano Dimension forum at 3DPB.com.