New Skin Cancer Treatment Device Manufactured with Micro 3D Printing

IMcoMET is a biotech startup in the field of skin cancer treatment. Their focus is on the tumor microenvironment. They are pioneering a groundbreaking new immunotherapy that has the potential to fundamentally change the way we treat skin cancer. Cancer cells can fool the immune system by sending signals that act as a camouflage. These signals are molecules, mainly proteins, which produce the cancer cells and release them into the fluid surrounding the cells. This fluid is referred to as the microenvironment. The aim of immunotherapy is to remove the camouflage signals, to stimulate an immune response and have it destroy the tumor as it normally would.

IMcoMET has developed a technology based on microfluidics and microneedles which allows the microenvironment of the tumor and all of its components to be physically removed, in order to then be replaced with healthy tissue. M-Duo Technology® uses small needles placed very close to each other which work together, one needle injects a carrier fluid while the other aspirates it. As the fluid travels between the two needles within the skin, it mixes with the cell fluid and drains all the signals present in that area. This is done continuously, without having to remove the needles.

The microneedle-Duo (M-Duo) Technology uses 3D printed components, specifically the caps and the lid that holds the needles in place. IMcoMET chose BMF micro-precision 3D printing to manufacture these parts due to the high-precision requirements of the part. The part contains two channels of 100µm diameter, positioned in parallel at only 20-40µm distance from each other. BMF’s micro-precision 3D printers bridge the technological gap between classic SLA 3D printing and nano 3D printing. For IMcoMET, BMF’s 3D printers are an enabler for them to miniaturize their technology.