Software: Getting the bioprinter working
Using a regular 3D-printer limits you to print amorphous structures with molten plastic polymers such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) or polylactic acid (PLA). So we've been upgrading our Bioprinter with a new printhead and a precise DIY syringe pump, which allows us to print structures composed of cells embedded in a proteinmatrix instead. To drive the syringe pump and control the new printing features we reprogrammed the Ultimaker 2+ firmware as well as the Cura software (Cura 2.1), which compiles the 3D print files in the gcode format.
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