The NIH 3D Print Exchange: A Public Resource for Bioscientific and Biomedical 3D Prints

Abstract

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched the NIH 3D Print Exchange, an online portal for discovering and creating bioscientifically relevant 3D models suitable for 3D printing, to provide both researchers and educators with a trusted source to discover accurate and informative models. There are a number of online resources for 3D prints, but there is a paucity of scientific models, and the expertise required to generate and validate such models remains a barrier. The NIH 3D Print Exchange fills this gap by providing novel, web-based tools that empower users with the ability to create ready-to-print 3D files from molecular structure data, microscopy image stacks, and computed tomography scan data. The NIH 3D Print Exchange facilitates open data sharing in a community-driven environment, and also includes various interactive features, as well as information and tutorials on 3D modeling software. As the first government-sponsored website dedicated to 3D printing, the NIH 3D Print Exchange is an important step forward to bringing 3D printing to the mainstream for scientific research and education.

3D Printing in the Laboratory: Maximize Time and Funds with Customized and Open-Source Labware

“…The NIH 3D Print Exchange (http://3Dprint.nih.gov) is a community-driven, online portal for downloading and sharing 3D-printable models related to biomolecules, chemicals, organisms, anatomy, and custom labware. 24 While many of the lab equipment models can be found in other open-source repositories, investigators less familiar with 3D printing were unlikely to find them. We hope that by providing niche content targeted toward a specific and technical demographic, more investigators will become aware of the potential of 3D printing to facilitate scientific discovery.…”

General Design Procedure for Free and Open-Source Hardware for Scientific Equipment

“…RepRap 3D printers have been used to provide high-quality educational experiences for students in a wide range of disciplines in the classroom [28,29] and have become scientific platforms themselves [30]. A maturing network of peer-production [31] and 3D printing file repositories [32] provides both time and cost savings within scientific labs [33]. Combining 3D printing with off-the-shelf components and open-source electronics (e.g., the Arduino prototyping platform) has enabled the automation of scientific equipment.…”

Impact of Three-Dimensional Printing on the Study and Treatment of Congenital Heart Disease

“…The 3D Heart Library will disseminate validated 3D models through an open access platform, as a peer-reviewed subset of content on the NIH 3D Print Exchange (https://3dprint.nih.gov), an online portal dedicated to bioscientific and medical 3D printing and visualization (11). The Exchange has been structured to include an open access database of user-contributed 3D models, along with models generated from free web tools hosted on the site.…”