Orthopaedic Bioengineering Research Laboratory at Colorado State University
Published on Feb. 14, 2022
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Customer Application
The Orthopaedic Bioengineering Research Lab (OBRL) has developed a melt-electrowriting 3D printer to create tissue engineering scaffolds for soft tissue regeneration. With this technology, polymer fibers (as small as 5 microns in diameter) can be assembled into scaffolds with tunable mechanical behaviour. The 3D positioning system incorporates two Zaber LSQ Series translation stages for XY motion and a Zaber VSR Series vertical lift stage for Z positioning. Stages are controlled by a X-MCC3 universal motor controller which interfaces with LabVIEW. The balance of speed (53 mm/s) and repeatability (< 2µm) for the XY positioning enables the OBRL to reproduce identical scaffolds with little cross-print variation in mechanical behaviour.
 Images of Melt electrowriting 3D printer and Zaber motor configuration |
 Example polycaprolactone scaffold generated by melt electrowriting 3D printer |
 Polypropylene fibers generated by melt electrowriting 3D printer |
About the Orthopaedic Bioengineering Research Laboratory
The Orthopaedic Bioengineering Research Laboratory at Colorado State University is a multi-disciplinary research facility that uses advanced experimental and computational methods to investigate orthopaedic tissues in their normal, diseased and treated conditions. One of the primary missions of the lab is to provide a world-class research facility for training future leaders in orthopaedic research and bioengineering while following FDA Good Laboratory Practice Regulations (GLPs). The laboratory focuses on both basic science and translational research in order to significantly impact medical practice and ultimately improve patient outcomes. Major research thrusts of the lab include development of non-linear viscoelastic material models to describe the time-dependent behaviour of orthopaedic and neural soft tissues, early diagnosis and prediction of aberrant fracture healing using electromagnetic fields, application of additive manufacturing techniques to design and develop regenerative scaffolds for orthopaedic soft tissues and development of comparative pre-clinical models. We regularly collaborate with leading academicians and industry groups in order to promote our multi-disciplinary approach.
Visit the Orthopaedic Bioengineering Research Laboratory at Colorado State University at https://tmi.colostate.edu/research/orthopaedicbioengineeringresearchlaboratory/.