UNM Researchers Developing Bone-Ligament Adherence Systems, Using Student-Built 3D Bioprinter

A couple of years ago, 3D printing entered the curriculum at the University of New Mexico’s (UNM) Valencia campus, and researchers at the main campus in Albuquerque are now attempting to use 3D bioprinting techniques to improve the overall outcomes in hand and wrist surgeries. Researchers with the UNM Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation’s Research Division are hoping that through a combination of these techniques and electrospinning, they will be able to fabricate hybrid bone-ligament tissue, which could potentially be used in joint replacement surgeries.

The Research Division was recently awarded a grant from the American Foundation for Surgery of the Hand, which will be used to develop bone-ligament adherence systems, using patient-specific anatomy and a 3D printer. A UNM Women in STEM Award will also support the research project. But of course, this research would be a lot more difficult without UNM’s own 3D bioprinter, built by students.

Dr. Christina Salas, PhD, Director of UNM’s Orthopaedics Biomechanics & Biomaterials Laboratory, said, “The nice thing about building this ourselves is that we can print just about anything we want with this.”

“What makes our 3D printer different from standard printers which print just melted plastic, basically which is what most people are familiar with, our printer actually prints biological materials. Both synthetic and natural materials.”

The ultimate goal is to eventually be able to use stem cells to 3D print bone and ligament tissue, but right now the students are just testing the 3D printer using liquid solutions that can turn into something pliable. You can learn more about that 3D bioprinter in a video from KOB 4. The machine shop inside the 672-square-foot laboratory is home to some other 3D technology as well, including an Ultimaker 2 Extended + and a NextEngine 3D Scanner Ultra HD.

“Ligament repair or replacement has been plagued by problems joining soft tissue with adjacent bones. Our proposed methodology would let surgeons import patient-specific bone and ligament anatomy directly into a 3D printer to better join engineered and native bone during joint repairs or replacement. It also allows for high-strength tissue growth and helps avoid bone grafting and suturing, while offering potential to restore full hand and wrist functionality immediately,” said Dr. Salas about the research project.

Dr. Salas is working with student researchers from UNM’s Mechanical Engineering Department and its Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, where she holds a joint appointment. The project will continue for the rest of 2017, and the final results will be published in the American Society for Surgery of the Hand’s (ASSH) publication, The Journal of Hand Surgery, and presented at its annual meeting in the fall.

Dr. Salas explained, “The long-fiber materials this research project will use for bone-ligament scaffolds show great potential as a biodegradable polymer that, when combined with 3D printing, might enhance scaffold stiffness and strength capabilities to match those of human ligament.”

Julia Fulghum, the director of Advance at UNM, a National Science Foundation-funded project which works to increase the number of minorities and women in STEM fields, says they are excited about this research, and about the contributions to new field information made by Dr. Salas. UNM is also in charge of the Women in Stem Award previously mentioned. Discuss in the UNM forum at 3DPB.com.