MI Project Manger Fanny Sie discusses Toronto’s impact on 3D printing landscape

In a December 4 article, part of a feature series on technology in Toronto, Yonge Street Media reporter Andrew Seale highlights the creative and innovative technological work surrounding the 3D printing and cyber security sectors in the city.

MaRS Innovation’s Fanny Sie is managing business development for the Bioprinter, a 3D printer using University of Toronto technology that’s capable of printing on organic material, including skin.

By printing on skin, the cost of treating burns on the body could be reduced.

Here’s an excerpt from the article (links and emphasis ours):

“Cells are very intelligent, you just have to be able to put them close enough to one another in order for them to take over,” says Sie adding that some of the research is a partnership with the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Research Institute.

The ability to print skin could change the way doctors treat large-scale burns, which typically cover 50 to 70 per cent of the body. “A very small 3 by 4 cm piece of artificial skin can cost in the tens of thousands, which is not a feasible or cost effective answer,” she adds.

“The reason why this printer is different than any other printer out there is that it’s able to place specific agents very precisely relative to one another,” she says, of the technology invented at the University of Toronto.

OtoSim’s otoscopy training technology and software were also mentioned in the article.

Read an interview with MI president and CEO Raphael Hofstein from the first article in the series.

Posted by Kailee Travis, writer and communications assistant.