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.