MRI: Acquisition of a High-resolution Multi-material Printing System

本提案的目的是获得支持，以购买最先进的超高分辨率三维打印系统，用于快速原型制作和快速制造具有复杂形状和复杂材料特性的零件。该打印系统将主要用于塔夫茨大学生物力学、生物学和生物医学工程小组的活动。术语“快速原型”是指直接从计算机辅助设计或动画软件自动构建物理对象。 各种相互竞争的快速原型技术现在已经商业化。 然而，就我们的目的而言，就可以加工制造零件的各种不同材料而言，成本最低、最容易使用、最快和最灵活的技术是三维打印。 在这种方法中，感光聚合物液体被迫通过喷墨打印头来创建部件的层，然后通过紫外光固化并融合在一起。 打印系统将成为仿生生物力学设施的核心，它将用于制造塔夫茨大学生物力学小组研究活动的基础，并且无法通过任何其他方法生产的重要部件。 在生物力学的跨学科方法中使用这种打印系统将导致（1）在理解生物力学系统方面的重大突破，以及（2）生物启发原理在工程机械设备和系统中的新应用。 这项工作的一个特别新颖的方面是，我们试图了解组织材料特性在生物运动中的作用，并利用材料来显示类似的特性，以设计，构建和控制模拟生物机械系统的设备。 因此，获得打印系统将大大推进生物力学领域，通过提供一个关键的部分，用于一个新颖的和创新的，生物启发，闭环研究和设计设施的关键仪器。通过允许制造具有先进的，不均匀的材料特性的复杂部件，收购3D打印系统将使我们能够承担大量项目，这些项目目前由于零件制造限制而无法实现。 这些项目将是仿生生物力学设施的核心，使我们能够设计和制造新颖的仿生设备和系统。 这种设备和系统的开发可以在适当的时候显著影响对生物力学系统的理解，从而成为新的生物启发研究和设计方法的基础。此外，拟议的项目将允许PI继续让本科生和研究生参与我们正在进行的研究工作，扩大研究培训，教育经验和机会提供给参与的学生。 此外，塔夫茨大学生物学、生物医学和机械工程系以及塔夫茨戈登研究所已经确定了将使用打印系统的正式课程。 此外，作为招聘学生进入我们的项目过程的一部分，将充分重视在塔夫茨的基础设施，以招聘和留住妇女和代表性不足的少数民族的研究。 其中包括新英格兰高等教育卓越委员会通过多样性计划，招聘代表性不足的少数民族学生的主要论坛，以及计算机科学，生物医学工程和机器人技术的正式持续外展计划，以及塔夫茨医学院NIH资助的少数民族外展计划，该计划在过去十年中非常成功地吸引了代表性不足的本科生参加暑期实习。

The objective of this proposal is to obtain support for the purchase of a state-of-the-art, ultra-high-resolution, 3-dimensional printing system for rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing of parts with complex shapes and complicated material properties. The printing system will find its primary use in the activities of the Tufts University biomechanics, biology and biomedical engineering groups. The term "rapid prototyping" refers to the automated construction of physical objects directly from computer aided design or animation software. A variety of competing rapid prototyping technologies are now commercially available. However, for our purposes, the least costly, easiest to use, fastest and most flexible technology in terms of the variety of different materials that can be processed to fabricate parts is 3-dimensional printing. In this approach, photopolymer liquids are forced through inkjet print heads to create the layers of the part, which then are cured and fused together by ultraviolet light. The printing system will be the centerpiece of a biomimetic biomechanics facility, in which it will be used to fabricate essential parts that are the basis of the research activities of the Tufts University biomechanics group, and that cannot be produced by any other method. Use of this printing system in our interdisciplinary approach to biomechanics will lead to (1) major breakthroughs in the understanding of biologic mechanical systems and (2) novel applications of biologically inspired principles to engineer mechanical devices and systems. A particularly novel aspect of this work is that we seek to understand the role of tissue material properties in living movements and to exploit materials to show similar properties to design, build and control devices emulating biologic mechanical systems. Thus acquisition of the printing system will significantly advance the field of biomechanics, by providing a crucial part of the key instrumentation used in a novel and innovative, biologically inspired, closed loop research and design facility.By allowing the fabrication of complex parts with advanced, non-uniform material properties, acquisition of the 3D printing system will permit us to undertake a large set of projects that are presently not possible due to part fabrication limitations. These projects will be central to the biomimetic biomechanics facility, allowing us to design and fabricate novel biomimetic devices and systems. Development of such devices and systems can in due course significantly impact understanding of biomechanical systems and thereby underlie new biologically inspired research and design approaches. Furthermore, the proposed project will permit the PIs to continue to engage undergraduate as well as graduate students in our ongoing research efforts, expanding the research training, educational experience and opportunities available to the students involved. Moreover, formal courses in which the printing system will be used have been identified from the Tufts Departments of Biology, Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering, and the Tufts Gordon Institute. In addition, as part of the process of recruitment of students into our projects, full attention will be given to the infrastructure in place at Tufts for recruiting and retaining women and underrepresented minorities in research. These include the New England Board of Higher Education Excellence through Diversity Program, a major forum for recruitment of underrepresented minority students, and formal ongoing outreach programs in Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering and robotics, as well as the Tufts School of Medicine NIH-funded minority outreach program, which has been highly successful in attracting underrepresented undergraduate students to summer internships for the last ten years.