The NIH 3D Print Exchange
Executive Summary
Our goal is to empower researchers, physicians, and the public with high-quality, informative models that inspire new discoveries that transform science and health care.
Specialized 3D models are invaluable in the visualization of existing problems and are capable of sparking ideas leading to new discoveries, and we wanted to make them available to a broader audience.
The team built the NIH 3D Print Exchange, a public website with a unique set of tools and data to discover, create, and share 3D models related to biomedical science. The Exchange provides models in formats that are readily compatible with 3D printers. It is also a community-driven environment where users are enabled with the tools and skills to create their own 3D models and are encouraged to share their own innovations with the community.
The most novel part of the site is our suite of custom, web-based tools that automatically translate scientific or medical 3D data into ready-to-print 3D models. Furthermore, we built an in-browser 3D visualizer that supports color content for 3D print files. No other 3D print repository offers this feature, but it is critical for demonstrating the important details of molecular, chemical, and anatomical structures that lead to biomedical discoveries.
Since the public launch in 2014, the Exchange has grown to 40,000 3D-printable files, 2,500 pages of published models, over 4,600 registered users, and 7,500 unique users per month visiting the site.
By democratizing access to custom and on-demand files, users of all levels are now able to focus their time on less tedious and more productive research and discovery while at the same time exponentially increasing the number of 3D printable models available to the community.
A project supported by the: HHS Ignite Accelerator, HHS Secretary's Ventures Fund
Team Members
Darrell Hurt (Project Lead), NIH*†
Nick Weber, NIH*†
Meghan Coakley, NIH*†
Terry Yoo, NIH*†
Dave Chen, NIH*
Vsevelod Alekseyev, NIH†
Metasebia Gizaw, NIH†
Jeremy Swan, NIH*
Erin Fincher, NIH*
*HHS Ignite, †HHS Secretary's Ventures
Milestones
July 2013: Project selected into the HHS Ignite Accelerator
August 2013: Project begins with Summer 2013 Boot Camp
April 2014: The project is launched in beta at the U.S.A. Science and Engineering Festival
February 2014: Completed the HHS Ignite Accelerator
June 2014: Project receives support from the HHS Secretary's Ventures Fund
June 2014: The website is launched publicly at the White House Maker Faire
January 2015: An application programming interface (API) is published facilitate sharing of content across other 3D printing communities and resources
June 2015: Project receives an HHS Innovates Award
July 2015: Completed the HHS Secretary's Ventures Fund
Project Sponsor
Yentram Huyen, Chief, Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch, Office of Cyber Infrastructure and Computational Biology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
