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Rapid prototyping of multi-scale biomedical microdevices by combining additive manufacturing technologies

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Abstract

The possibility of designing and manufacturing biomedical microdevices with multiple length-scale geometries can help to promote special interactions both with their environment and with surrounding biological systems. These interactions aim to enhance biocompatibility and overall performance by using biomimetic approaches. In this paper, we present a design and manufacturing procedure for obtaining multi-scale biomedical microsystems based on the combination of two additive manufacturing processes: a conventional laser writer to manufacture the overall device structure, and a direct-laser writer based on two-photon polymerization to yield finer details. The process excels for its versatility, accuracy and manufacturing speed and allows for the manufacture of microsystems and implants with overall sizes up to several millimeters and with details down to sub-micrometric structures. As an application example we have focused on manufacturing a biomedical microsystem to analyze the impact of microtextured surfaces on cell motility. This process yielded a relevant increase in precision and manufacturing speed when compared with more conventional rapid prototyping procedures.

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Acknowledgements

This work was carried out with the support of the European Community. We appreciate the support of the European Research Infrastructure EUMINAfab (funded under the FP7 specific programme Capacities, Grant Agreement Number 226460) and its partner, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. We are also grateful to Dr. Dieter Maas and to Dr. Thomas Schaller for their kind help and for their support of the EUMINAfab 1140 proposal. We acknowledge reviewers for their positive opinions, encouraging commments and proposals for improvement, which have helped to enhance paper quality, readability, content and final result.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Microstructure Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany

    Stefan Hengsbach

  2. Product Development Laboratory, Mechanical Engineering & Manufacturing Department, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), José Gutiérrez Abascal, 28006, Madrid, Spain

    Andrés Díaz Lantada

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  1. Stefan Hengsbach
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  2. Andrés Díaz Lantada
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Correspondence to Andrés Díaz Lantada.

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Hengsbach, S., Lantada, A.D. Rapid prototyping of multi-scale biomedical microdevices by combining additive manufacturing technologies. Biomed Microdevices 16, 617–627 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-014-9864-2

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