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Jul 31, 2017 | By Tess

TTP Plc, a UK-based technology and product development company, has unveiled its new FormaJet liquid handling platform which reportedly enables high throughput and multi-color digital 3D bioprinting. The company is currently seeking partners for the platform’s development and go-to-market strategy.

TTP’s FormaJet 3D printing platform integrates a “droplet dispensing concept” which the company says makes it suitable for high-speed, high-density, and multi-color 3D printing. Unlike HP’s famous Jet Fusion printing tech which seems comparable in those regards, FormaJet is geared specifically to bioprinting applications, such as diagnostics, tissue engineering, and drug discovery.

Though it is not yet ready for the commercial market, TTP envisions its novel 3D bioprinting technology being used to print and build molecules into various structures. Importantly, TTP says FormaJet will be adaptable and can be “tailored to suit TTP’s development partners’ specific market needs.”

A functional demo version of the system, which can print in 96 colors from SBS plates and can be used with a wide variety of reagent types (proteins, peptides, DNA, organical chemicals, volatile solvents, and more) is being used to attract potential partners. This iteration of the FormaJet system was also built with “ultra-low dead volume” and digital dispensing deposition rates of 3,000 drops per nozzle, per second.

“The launch of our FormaJetTM platform is a jump in our bioprinting ambition,” said Dr. Giles Sanders from the Life Science division at TTP. “We expect it to advance our established technology, that can print a broad spectrum of biomolecule materials, to something that address a clear need for increased speed and density of printing, as well as providing a step change in the number of reagents that can be printed at one time.”

For the FormaJet’s development, TTP focused three of its specialities: diagnostics, drug discovery, and droplet-based digital printing. The result is a bioprinting platform which uses droplet generation and control technology to bioprint structures for the aforementioned applications.

The FormaJet system also features a “gentle operation,” which helps to reduce the risk of damaging prints and materials by effectively removing any chance of “thermal shock” to the print. TTP says its system can be used with SBS liquid materials and can complete 2D and "2.5D" printing in addition to 3D.

Rob Day, from TTP’s Print Technology division, commented on the technology, saying: “There is a gap in the market for multi-colour bioprinting. FormaJetTM will be the first platform to enable digital non-contact dispensing of many colours in a single small format printhead. We look forward to discussing commercial applications with technology providers in a huge range of applications, from lab research to assay development and manufacture.”

Potential partners or anyone wanting to learn more about TTP’s innovative FormaJet 3D bioprinting system can see the technology at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC)’s Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo in California this week.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printer

 

 

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