A new team at Northwestern University has begun printing three-dimensional structures with graphene nanoflakes. 

Northwestern University’s International Institute for Nanotechnology. The department has just been awarded $8.5 million in funding by the US Department of Defense for a project that will last over the next five years as part of the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program.

The “Open Source Nano Replicator Initiative” launched a $500 million dollar Indiegogo campaign to create the world’s first nano-replicator, basically a Star Trek-like molecular-level replicator.

At the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, they are coupling light to a single atom or to individual nano-particles, which could be a pre-cursor to an atomic level 3D print head. The research demonstrates that light can be coupled to an ion trapped within a parabolic mirror, and the upshot is a high efficiency, optimized polarized beam.

In a study published Wednesday in Nature, researchers present a new technique for building these complex structures on the smallest possible scale. One day, these tiny, intricate objects could be used to deliver drug therapies, along with other applications not even dreamed up yet.

University of Illinois chemistry professor Martin Burke explains a machine that can assemble complex small molecules from chemical building blocks. This could aid in rapid drug  development. 

35 Patients participated in a jont study for Dentures and received 3D Printed Dentures made from a composite material, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)–nanoTiO2. Researchers from Turkey and Romania then studied the quality and outcomes of the dentures using questionnaires for the participants that involved 49 questions in total regarding the usability and efficiency of these compared to usual dentures. The dentures were created on an EnvisionTEC Perfactory 3D printer, featuring a layer thickness from 25μm to 150μm. Patients noted ‘significant improvement’ related to their oral health as the dentures provided good retention and stability.

3D printing start-up Copper3D, based in Chile and the US, worked towards using Nano-Copper additives, and adding antimicrobial properties to polymers like PLA and TPU to create antibacterial 3D printed objects. Now, their team of researchers have come up with “Viral Inactivation System for a Breast milk Shield to Prevent Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV”, a 3D Printed Device that can effectively inactivate the HIV virus under the right conditions on certain objects. The Split-Sample Study on 20 Samples revealed reduction in transmission, close to 100%.