Tag: food

Frontiers in 3-D Printing: Frankenfruit and Blood Vessels

bioprinting3-D printing is pushing the boundaries of manufacturing all the time, expanding its repertoire to include more and more in the way of manufactured products and even organic materials. Amongst the many possibilities this offers, arguably the most impressive are those that fall into the categories of synthetic food and replacement organs. In this vein, two major breakthroughs took place last month, with the first-time unveiling of both 3-D printed hybrid fruit and blood vessels.

The first comes from a Dovetailed, UK-based design company which presented its 3-D food printer on Saturday, May 24th, at the Tech Food Hack event in Cambridge. Although details on how it works are still a bit sparse, it is said to utilize a technique known as “spherification” – a molecular gastronomy technique in which liquids are shaped into tiny spheres – and then combined with spheres of different flavors into a fruit shape.

frankenfruit1According to a report on 3DPrint, the process likely involves combining fruit puree or juice with sodium alginate and then dripping the mixture into a bowl of cold calcium chloride. This causes the droplets to form into tiny caviar-like spheres, which could subsequently be mixed with spheres derived from other fruits. The blended spheres could then be pressed, extruded or otherwise formed into fruit-like shapes for consumption.

The designers claim that the machine is capable of 3D-printing existing types of fruit such as apples or pears, or user-invented combined fruits, within seconds. They add that the taste, texture, size and shape of those fruits can all be customized. As Vaiva Kalnikaitė, creative director and founder of Dovetailed, explained:

Our 3D fruit printer will open up new possibilities not only to professional chefs but also to our home kitchens – allowing us to enhance and expand our dining experiences… We have been thinking of making this for a while. It’s such an exciting time for us as an innovation lab. Our 3D fruit printer will open up new possibilities not only to professional chefs but also to our home kitchens, allowing us to enhance and expand our dining experiences. We have re-invented the concept of fresh fruit on demand.

frankenfruit2And though the idea of 3-D printed fruit might seem unnerving to some (the name “Frankenfruit” is certainly predicative of that), it is an elegant solution of what to do in an age where fresh fruit and produce are likely to become increasingly rare for many. With the effects of Climate Change (which included increased rates of drought and crop failure) expected to intensify in the coming decades, millions of people around the world will have to look elsewhere to satisfy their nutritional needs.

As we rethink the very nature of food, solutions that can provide us sustenance and make it look the real thing are likely to be the ones that get adopted. A video of the printing in action is show below:


Meanwhile, in the field of bioprinting, researchers have experienced another breakthrough that may revolution the field of medicine. When it comes to replacing vital parts of a person’s anatomy, finding replacement blood vessels and arteries can be just as daunting as finding sources of replacement organs,  limbs, skin, or any other biological material. And thanks to the recent efforts of a team from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston, MA, it may now be possible to fabricate these using a bioprinting technique.

3d_bloodvesselsThe study was published online late last month in Lab on a Chip. The study’s senior author,  Ali Khademhosseini – PhD, biomedical engineer, and director of the BWH Biomaterials Innovation Research Center – explained the challenge and their goal as follows:

Engineers have made incredible strides in making complex artificial tissues such as those of the heart, liver and lungs. However, creating artificial blood vessels remains a critical challenge in tissue engineering. We’ve attempted to address this challenge by offering a unique strategy for vascularization of hydrogel constructs that combine advances in 3D bioprinting technology and biomaterials.

The researchers first used a 3D bioprinter to make an agarose (naturally derived sugar-based molecule) fiber template to serve as the mold for the blood vessels. They then covered the mold with a gelatin-like substance called hydrogel, forming a cast over the mold which was then  reinforced via photocrosslinks. Khademhosseini and his team were able to construct microchannel networks exhibiting various architectural features – in other words, complex channels with interior layouts similar to organic blood vessels.

bioprinting1They were also able to successfully embed these functional and perfusable microchannels inside a wide range of commonly used hydrogels, such as methacrylated gelatin or polyethylene glycol-based hydrogels. In the former case, the cell-laden gelatin was used to show how their fabricated vascular networks functioned to improve mass transport, cellular viability and cellular differentiation. Moreover, successful formation of endothelial monolayers within the fabricated channels was achieved.

According to Khademhosseini, this development is right up there with the possibility of individually-tailored replacement organs or skin:

In the future, 3D printing technology may be used to develop transplantable tissues customized to each patient’s needs or be used outside the body to develop drugs that are safe and effective.

Taken as a whole, the strides being made in all fields of additive manufacturing – from printed metal products, robotic parts, and housing, to synthetic foods and biomaterials – all add up to a future where just about anything can be manufactured, and in a way that is remarkably more efficient and advanced than current methods allow.

 Sources: gizmag.com, 3dprint.com, phys.org

The Inspiring Blog Award!

My thanks to Renee, that lovely, sassy, irrepressible lady, for nominating me for another award. I thought I was done with these, but then the other day I began wanting to put them up on my page. I’ve already made room for the new one, and am already thinking of whom I’m going to nominate in turn. So many people to thank, so many new things to share about myself. Where to begin…

As stipulated by the rules of the IBA, I must now share seven interesting facts about me. Forgive me if I cover old ground, but that’s the way of these things. There’s only so much we can say before we either start sounding familiar or get venturing into TMI territory 😉 Okay, here we go!

  1. I prefer homemade food that’s bad for ya! My wife and I routinely set aside one day a week for pizza, perogies, or other such luxuries would put us in an early grave, assuming we ate them every night! One time, I even pounded some pork loins, breaded them, and made homemade schnitzel. We also make room for desserts, such as apple cake, apple crisp, or upside down cake.
  2. I’m bad with money. I always figured I would have to end up rich, since I could never stand living on a budget. As a young adult, I loved having steady employment and money, mainly so I could be generous with friends and ensure food, drink and good times were not in short supply. I called myself “Rich Uncle Matt” for fun. They always got a kick out of it!
  3. I like fighting! Not in the sense of brawling or fisticuffs, mind you. But I love the combative arts, love doing demos (board breaking, brick breaking and self defense skits) and would think it totally badass if I could do some fight choreography in front of a camera! I would also like to fight competitively at least once before I’m too old to do so anymore. I figure I got a good decade or so left in me. Let’s see what I can do!
  4. My sister in and wife both lost their doggies recently. It’s the saddest thing in the world when a beloved dog who’ve you;ve known for so many years reaches the end of their life span. I know exactly how they feel. They grew up on a farm and are more acquainted with the death of pets than I am, but I still know how much it sucks. What’s more, I see that a number of people I follow have experienced the same of late or are wrestling with their own personal tragedies, sickness and injury and the like. I wish you all the best in this time of sad convergence! I can only hope that things will get better from here.
  5. I wish I could write more sex and romance in my work. One of the things I like best in a book is realism, and part of that is conveying love, sex and tenderness in real terms. One of the things I like best about George RR Martin, Tom Robbins and Pat Barker as writers is their unabashed and unashamed depictions of sexuality. I wish I could write more into my own work, but what I write rarely calls for it.
  6. My dreams are almost always the same. I don’t know for what psychological reason, but my dreams usually involve me being back in school, often at my current age. In some respects, this mirrors real life since I did a year as a mature student and didn’t like it that much. Sure, its fun being in school when you actually want to be, but being around so many younger people kind of sucks! It’s humbling, really.
  7. My cat is nuts! I know I’m to blame for this, but I raised an animal that is a total… well, animal! When he was a kitten, we knew him to be the cutest damn animal in the world. So tiny, yet so brave and irrepressible. He climbed everything, the walls, the curtains, pant legs. Then, when he was old enough to go outside, he began to hunt. For months, we’d find dead birds by our doorstep.He also began to play with me, way too hard! He’d bite, kick, and just generally be a total monster! Then he began getting territorial. To this day, he won’t allow another cat to venture into our area without whooping his ass! All throughout this, I refused to repress him, mainly because I didn’t want to punish the boy for having spirit. I love his nutsy personality, but my accumulated scar tissue makes we wonder if it’s really worth it…

And now for MY nominees. For those who inspire me and encourage me to do better…

  1. Dangerously Daydreaming – Audrey’s journeys, recipes, photo journalism, and semi-daily elocutions are always a source of inspiration, be it culinary, personal, or creative! Being of the west coast, we have a lot in common when it comes to the kinds of travel and journeying we like to partake. However, she’s dangerously close to outpacing me in terms of world travels. What’s more, her constant encouragement keeps me writing!
  2. Ramiungarthewriter – Rami Ungar, a fellow writer who’s posts and plans inspire me, perhaps selfishly because he reminds me of myself. He’s also my most dedicated follower and keeps me on my toes with his observations and opinions, and is sure to be invaluable as I continue on my own writing career. I wish him the best as he embarks on the road to self-publishing! You’re on the right track, now get out there and shake your money-maker (aka. your manuscripts)!
  3. Sotetangyal – Home of the lady Nina D’Arcangela, writer, visionary and specialist in all things dark, Gothic, and pleasing to those of us who have sick senses of humor. I refer to myself of course. Somehow, her writing always brings a twisted smile to my face. So good at capturing the depths of darkness that live at the core of us all! Also, the way she retweets my stuff is always a source of encouragement. I’ve told her she can do better than my stuff, but does she listen? Nope! And I hope she never does 😉
  4. Urbannight – A fine lady who pretty much sees the world in the same light I do. Spends too much time on her computer, feels the need tog get out and see more of the world, and writes some pretty damn insightful things! Yeah, we get along fine. This, among her rather fun and quirky observations about life, inspire me because they teach me there are more people like me out there!
  5. Bucket List Publications – Here is another fellow-traveler on the world of life who’s got it figured out. As the name would suggest, it’s all about getting it all in before the clock runs out. Her travels, photo logs and accounts of the world are always inspiring and make me want to do more, see more, and experience more of this world before I am forced to leave it.
  6. bodhisattvasiddhartha – aka. Jay, former officer in the Indian Armed Forces, turned writer, muser, part-time poet, and world cyber traveller. There’s a little bit of everything here, and all of it is likely to inspire the fertile mind looking for new perspectives and friends in distant places who have something to say. I am honored that I find myself amongst the people he chooses to read and reblog from time to time and hope that whatever I’m doing to inspire him, I continue to do 😉
  7. Dr. Sci-Fi – And I thought I knew a thing or two about sci-fi, but it’s safe to say that the good doctor here puts me to shame! Not only is he a committed fanboy of numerous classic franchises, he knows the ins and outs of the sci-fi world intimately. I can always count on him to inform me on my subject matter, and offer insight into whatever world I am currently romping through.