Additive Manufacturing for Health: State of the Art, Gaps and Needs, and Recommendations

Additive manufacturing (AM) involves using computer-controlled machines to fabricate three-dimensional (3D) structural and functional parts layer by layer. To date, ample AM application opportunities exist in the health field. Based on the outcomes at the 2016 National Science Foundation AM for Health workshop, this paper summarizes the current state, gaps and research needs, and recommendations related to AM for health, in particular, hard structure and medical product printing and soft construct bioprinting. Manufacturing-related knowledge gaps and needs mainly fall into the materials, design, process innovation, part characterization, and policy and education categories. Hard structures and medical products can be designed to integrate with tissues, and their gaps and needs are typically related to the material-process-property-functionality relationship. Bioprinting-specific gaps and needs include build material selection and construct design, printed construct preservation, process selection, scalability and modeling, bioprinting-induced cell injury management, postprinting tissue fusion and maturation, and printed construct evaluation. Research recommendations encompass aspects ranging from fundamental research support to development of suitable standards for clinical use of AM products and are summarized in terms of materials, design, process innovation, modeling, characterization, and policy and education. Hard structure and medical product-specific recommendations are mainly related to build materials and structure design. For bioprinting, recommendations are summarized based on preparation, bioprinting process, and postbioprinting treatment. Furthermore, a biomedical manufacturing landscape is proposed, the potential of bioprinting as transformative research is introduced, and manufacturing-related scientific challenges are listed.