Creating Valve Tissue Using 3D Bioprinting

Creating Valve Tissue Using 3D Bioprinting Creating Valve Tissue Using 3D Bioprinting Aortic valve disease (AVD) is a serious health condition that affects people of all ages. Congenital heart valve defects are especially dangerous for newborns and can be fatal if left untreated. The most recommended treatment for AVD is surgical replacement of the defective valve. Although prosthetic valve replacement is the standard procedure for adults, these prosthetic devices are inadequate for younger adults and growing children. Tissue engineering has the potential to address these limitations of nonliving prosthetics (as well as human donor supply shortages) by providing living tissues that can grow, remodel, and integrate with the patient.A critical requirement for tissue-engineered heart valves is that the engineered valve must be able to mimic the physiological function of the native valve, including the natural geometry and performance of the valve root, cusps, and sinus wall, all of whic h are essential for healthy coronary blood flow. Tissue-engineered heart valves must also have the saatkorn intrinsic asymmetry as the root, which prevents cusp deterioration.Jonathan T. Butcher. Image Cornell UniversityA popular technique in the advanced manufacturing world, 3-D printing, has been modified to create precise, 3-D structures from living tissue. This 3-D bioprinting technology has been used by researchers at Cornell University to fabricate living heart valves that possess the same anatomical architecture as the original valve. This research is described in a paper by Jonathan T. Butcher, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Cornell University, and others entitled Bioprinting of Heterogeneous Aortic Valve Conduits with Alginate/Gelatin Hydrogels and published last year in the Journal Biomedical Materials Research.3-D ConstructionBioprinting produces three-dimensional biological objects or parts that are highly precise in shape and mechanical complexity. Usi ng a computer-assisted design (CAD) and/or computer-assisted manufacturing (CAM) blueprints, the bioprinter deposits ultra-thin layers of living cells upon each other, following a precise geometric pattern that matches the heart valve dimensions, building the part vertically as the layers accumulate. Over a period of hours the final tissue construct is completed.A 3-D print of an artificial heart valve.Image Jonathan T. Butcher, Cornell University3-D bioprinting makes it possible to design biological tissues from scratch that contain many of the natural geometry, stiffness, and biological cues that are needed for full function, says Butcher. We have learned over the past 20 years of failure that replicating the biology, as well as the structure, is essential for success. Tissue printing creates both the biology and the structure at the same time. This lets us do things like make patient-specific tissue models to learn disease pathogenesis and screen drug efficacy, or make living tis sue replacements tailored directly to patient geometry.Biomaterials have been adapted for 3-D bioprinting, including co-polymer hydrogels. Alginate, for example, is a naturally occurring anionic polymer with many attractive features for biomedical applications, including low cost, excellent biocompatibility, low toxicity, and a variety of cross-linking capabilities. Alginate-based hydrogels are particularly attractive for bioprinting because of their broad range of viscosities at room temperature, says Butcher. This is important because hydrogels have tight requirements with regard to viscosity and gelling speed for accurate printing.Butchers team conducted bioprinting that utilized an alginate/gelatin hydrogel ordnungsprinzip that included smooth muscle cells and valve interstitial cells. A dual-syringe system was used to mimic the structure of the valve root and leaflets, two key valve structures. The team successfully fabricated living aortic valve conduits with strong anatomical resemblance to the native valve. The results demonstrate that anatomically complex, heterogeneously encapsulated aortic valve hydrogel conduits can be fabricated with 3-D bioprinting.Moving Forward3-D tissue printing combines the disciplines of quantitative image analysis, computer-aided design, and manufacturing to develop a real entityin this case, a living tissuein a fraction of the time that any other traditional mechanical engineering process would, says Butcher. Many people may spend their entire thesis working on just one part of this process, but without performing the whole process to completion, they wont know how to improve the system. Researchers gain a much greater appreciation for this systematic approach and can build a larger toolset, while having much more fun being creative in the process.Butcher believes bioprinting will gain much more traction in the tissue engineering and biomedical community over the next five years, potentially even becoming the standard in c omplex tissue fabrication, he adds. I hope that people use this technology in the future to target a higher level of tissue complexity, like glandular and highly vascularized and innervated functional tissues.Mark Crawford is an independent writer.Alginate-based hydrogels are particularly attractive for bioprinting because of their broad range of viscosities at room temperature.Jonathan T. Butcher, Cornell University

Customize this Outstanding Recruiter Resume Sample

Customize this Outstanding Recruiter Resume SampleCustomize this Outstanding Recruiter Resume SampleWriting Your Recruiter ResumeCreate Resume As a recruiter, you know a good resume when you see one. However, when it is time to sit down and write your own resume, it can feel a bit overwhelming, much like a doctor might feel performing a procedure on himself. You know your resume will be scrutinized according to whether it presents well against high expectations usually applied to candidates for other roles. In order to ensure you exceed quality standards, work to include some often overlooked skills on your resume. These, called soft skills, are attributes more and more organizations are seeking in qualified candidates to differentiate potentially good employees from stellar ones.Some of these recruiter soft skills includeActive listening and effective communicationAdaptabilityProblem-solving skillPersonal accountabilityTeam collaboratorFor your best recruiter resume, remember to fo cus on these softer attributes in combination with the typical quantifiable results and background presented on a resume. Doing so will provide an edge in gaining employment as hiring managers will see you offer quality communication, drive for success, work well as part of a team and hold yourself accountable for work quality.Customize Resume

Occupational Therapy Assistant Job Description

Occupational Therapy Assistant Job DescriptionOccupational Therapy Assistant Job DescriptionOccupational Therapy Assistant Job DescriptionThis occupational therapy assistant sample job description can assist in your creating a job application that will attract job candidates who are qualified for the job. Feel free to revise this job description to meet your specific job duties and job requirements.Occupational Therapy Assistant Job ResponsibilitiesHelps occupational therapy clients by providing rehabilitative services, under the direction of occupational therapists, to persons with mental, physical, emotional, or developmental impairments.Occupational Therapy Assistant Job DutiesVerifies client information by interviewing client reviewing and/or recording medical history confirming purpose of treatment.Helps clients improve their quality of life by helping them compensate for limitations, such as, helping injured workers improve their motor skills and re-enter the labor force, and t eaching persons with learning disabilities to prepare meals or to use public transportation and increase their independence,Follows treatment plan developed in collaboration with occupational therapist by teaching techniques, such as, the proper method of moving from a bed into a wheelchair, and the best ways to stretch and limber muscles monitoring activities to make sure they are performed correctly providing encouragement, bringing treatment that is bedrngnis having the intended effect to the attention of the therapistMaintains patient occupational therapy records by recording clients progress for use by the occupational therapist.Generates revenues by recording billing information of services rendered.Maintains safe, secure, and healthy work environment by establishing, following, and enforcing standards and procedures complying with legal regulations.Keeps supplies ready by inventorying stock placing orders verifying receipt.Keeps equipment operating by following operating inst ructions troubleshooting breakdowns maintaining supplies performing preventive maintenance calling for repairs.Serves and protects the occupational therapy practice by adhering to professional standards, policies and procedures, federal, state, and local requirements, and Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) standards.Updates job knowledge by participating in educational opportunities reading professional publications maintaining personal networks participating in professional organizations.Enhances occupational therapy practice reputation by accepting ownership for accomplishing new and different requests exploring opportunities to add value to job accomplishments.Occupational Therapy Assistant Skills and QualificationsDocumentation Skills, Scheduling, Verbal Communication, Patient Services, Health Care Administration, Hospital Environment, Teamwork, Use of Medical Technologies, Bedside Manner, Dependability, Health Promotion and MaintenanceEmployer s Post a job in minutes to reach candidates everywhere. Job Seekers Search Occupational Therapy Assistant Jobs and apply on now. Find out more aboutwriting ajob descriptionMaximize your Job Description ResultsMake the most of Hiring ToolsHow to Write a Job Description Resource Page