Inkjet 3D Printing of Polymers Resistant to Fungal Attachment

He, Yinfeng; Valli�res, Cindy; Alexander, Morgan R.; Wildman, Ricky D.; Avery, Simon V.

Abstract

Inkjet 3D printing is an additive manufacturing method that allows the user to produce a small batch of customized devices for comparative study versus commercial products. Here, we describe the use of a commercial 2D ink development system (Dimatix material printing) to manufacture small batches of 3D medical or other devices using a recentlycharacterized fungal anti-attachment material. Such printed devices may resist problems that beset commercial medical products due to colonization by the fungal pathogen Candida albicans. By sequentially introducing the cross-section bitmapsof the product's CAD model and elevating the print head height usingthe auto-clicking script, we were able to createcomplex self-support geometries with the 2D ink development system. The use of this protocol allows researchers to produce a small batch of specimens for characterization fromonly a few grams of raw material. Additionally, wedescribe the testing of manufactured specimens for fungal anti-attachment. In comparisonwith most commercial AM systems, which require at least a few hundred grams ofink for printing trials, our protocol is well suited for smaller-scale production in material studies.

Citation

He, Y., Vallières, C., Alexander, M. R., Wildman, R. D., & Avery, S. V. (2021). Inkjet 3D Printing of Polymers Resistant to Fungal Attachment. Bio-protocol, 11(9), Article e4016. https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.4016

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 24, 2021
• Online Publication Date: May 5, 2021
• Publication Date: May 5, 2021
• Deposit Date: Mar 24, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: May 18, 2021
• Journal: Bio-protocol
• Electronic ISSN: 2331-8325
• Publisher: Bio-Protocol
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 9
• Article Number: e4016
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.4016
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5413298
• Publisher URL: https://bio-protocol.org/e4016