When you have a cold most people run to the drugstore to buy an over the counter medicine, curl up under a blanket and sip on chicken noodle soup. 3D printing is in the process of changing the way in which we recover from colds. Imagine being able to just walk into your home office and fabricate a medicine of your own. A University of Glasgow research team  has made steps toward using 3D printers as home chemical fabricators.

The University of Glasgow team used a 3D printer and open source CAD software to create vessels for chemical reactions made from a polymer gel. The gel sets at room temperature, creating what the researchers have dubbed “reactionware.” By adding other chemicals to the gel as it is printed, the team is able to make the vessel part of the reaction process, something not usually seen outside of industrial chemical engineering. This could allow for the process to be replicated in small labs or even at home.

This is a very interesting use of 3D printing and though it is still in early development we can’t help but be a little cautious about the idea that people will one day be able to fabricate medicine at home.

What are your thoughts on this application of 3D printing?

To read the full article published by Desktop Engineering, please click here.