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<h5 class="sidebartitle">Fused Deposition Modelling</h5> | <h5 class="sidebartitle">Fused Deposition Modelling</h5> | ||
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Another method of 3D printing is stereo-lithography, which works by creating a vat of plastic, in this case cells which then has two lasers, above and below which move and cause the plastic to harden (or cells to react and secrete plastic). The benefit of this is that you can create far more complex and detailed shapes. Shapes could possibly be made with precision at a cellular level, this sort of accuracy would be of paramount importance for the creation of heart valves and even a bone structure with the correct fibre arrangement.
However it would require larger amount of E.coli cells to be held together without dying, a very large challenge to overcome. For this we would use E.coli which would secrete plastic once it is subjected to a certain wavelength of light which would be provided by the two lasers.
We also though of using a process similar to selective laser sintering, where a film of E.coli cells are spread onto a surface then a laser ‘draws’ the first layer. A second layer of cells is spread on top and the process is repeated. This process takes longer but could be used to make much larger structures.