Many wanted to see the spare parts person of the future at Culture Night

After almost five years of renovation, visitor numbers were high at the Gustavianum. Those who had managed to get tickets to the 1660s anatomy lecture theatre were greeted by a replica of a human body on the dissection table. The “patient” was covered with objects intended to replace or complement body parts, most of which had been developed at the Ångström Laboratory.

Cecilia Persson, professor of materials science and director of the AM4Life competence centre, showed a 3D-printed jaw implant and a degradable magnesium alloy that replaces bone. However, one of the challenges is to print materials that can degrade over time at the right rate so that bone can be recreated.

“‘It's quite a long trial-and-error process to develop printing parameters because there are so many different parameters. But we have plans to put different types of sensors in the machines to collect more data that can be used for immediate quality control on the spot. Then we might even be able to adjust the printing while it's happening to get better results,” she said.

Artificial models of cells

Also on the dissection table were artificial models of cells grown on microchips, known as organs-on-a-chip. They had been developed in professor Maria Tenje's research group in microsystems technology and designed to resemble various biological barriers such as skin, intestinal wall or blood-brain barrier.

“Today, drugs are often tested on laboratory animals because there are no better authorised alternatives. So the dream and vision in the research field is that we will be able to replace, preferably all animal testing, but at least many of the first studies,” said Maria Tenje, who is also the director of the Medtech Science & Innovation Centre.

Robotic prosthesis controlled by thought

The “patient” was also fitted with a remarkable robotic prosthesis developed by Robin Augustine's research group at the Department of Electrical Engineering. The aim is to make the prosthesis mind-controlled and cognitively integrated, making it feel like your own arm. The technology can thus help both amputees and those with neurological problems, for example after a stroke.

“We in the B-CRATOS project connect brain thoughts to a prosthetic hand and the hand talks directly to the brain through our ground-breaking technology, Fat-Intrabody communication or Fat-IBC. The brain has more capacity than you think, even to control an extra arm or even an extra leg. This is already a reality and something our friends in NIMA, or Non-invasive Interface for Movement Augmentation, are working on” said Robin Augustine.

3D printing of human organs

Afterwards, the audience had many questions, including how AI is used in research on the spare part human of the future. Cecilia Persson explained that machine learning models can be used to better understand and speed up the process of 3D printing different metals. But being able to print human organs such as an artificial heart and make cells survive is very difficult in practice.

“The challenge lies partly in the fact that human cells are exposed to forces when they are bioprinted that they cannot always withstand, and partly in getting the blood flow to work in these organs. But once we've solved that, I think it will be much faster.”

Watch the UppTalk recording from Gustavianum:
UppTalk: Innovative spare parts for the body - what does the human of the future look like?

Anneli Björkman