UC San Diego

Herein we describe methods of light-based printing for cellular applications and biomimicry. Light based printing offers a non-contact form of printing which can reach resolutions below 100nm. Here we describe both additive and subtractive manufacturing, demonstrating the remarkable flexibility of light based printing techniques. Two different fabrication systems are employed for this 3D printing. The first is a femtosecond laser, capable of printing resolutions below 100nm via photopolymerization. This same laser was also used for ultrafast laser induced degradation (ULID) of gold nanorod-collagen composites. The second fabrication system utilized is a digital micro- mirror device (DMD) which utilizes over a million micro- mirrors for rapid projection printing with resolution down to a few microns. Combining these two unique systems allows for creative and novel manufacturing on a large scale with the DMD, but with fine resolution from the femtosecond laser. In the first project presented, 3D web- like structures were fabricated as cell scaffolds to study cellular interactions with never before studied mechanical tuning of Poisson' ratio. In the second project presented, nanorod laden collagen was degraded via ULID to create 3D channels in collagen with encapsulated cells. Finally, in the last project presented, biomimetic structures were created with the femtosecond laser to replicate natural trichomes which are used to entrap the common bed bug