Chemist Lee Cronin is working on a 3D printer that, instead of objects, is able to print molecules. An exciting potential long-term application: printing your own medicine using chemical inks.
Lee Cronin’s lab at the University of Glasgow does cutting-edge research into how complex chemical systems, created from non-biological building blocks, can have real-world applications with wide impact. At TEDGlobal 2012, Cronin shared some of the lab’s latest work: creating a 3D printer for molecules. This device — which has been prototyped — can download plans for molecules and print them, in the same way that a 3D printer creates objects. In the future, Cronin says this technology could potentially be used to print medicine — cheaply and wherever it is needed. As Cronin says: “What Apple did for music, I’d like to do for the discovery and distribution of prescription drugs.”….
http://www.ted.com/speakers/lee_cronin.html
Anything that takes the power away from the pharmaceutical companies is a Good thing.
Newzaholic