From Hobby to Research Support Service
Necessity is the mother of invention. Turning my 3D printing hobby into a helping hand in science was a rewarding challenge. It began during my postdoc at the Mansy Group in an “unfurnished” laboratory that required a lot of setup. While setting up the lab, I assembled a Prusa i3 MK3S printer. On frosty Albertan weekends, eager to learn something new, I started 3D printing lab accessories for my own bench. Most of my early 3D prints optimized workflow or addressed specific problems. Over time, my collection grew, and my co-workers began requesting their own lab accessories and occasionally “borrowing” mine. Eventually, 3D printing became an integral part of lab life where I would design and 3D print whatever the group needed.
Snowball effect. Beyond speeding up everyday work, this proved more cost-effective than ordering from commercial suppliers. Upon giving it some more thought, it became evident that there was more to 3D printing than just saving time and money. After all, this was an alternative way to acquire lab accessories: a more sustainable one. Fortunately, the Sustainability Council at the University of Alberta was of a similar mind and honored the work I have done for my lab with the Campus Sustainability Leaders Award in 2023. For additional information, tune-in to this short interview with Radio-Canada.
The perks. 3D printing on-site and as needed, bypasses the necessity for mass production abroad, international shipping, storage, logistics management, deliveries, packaging and packaging fillers (we all have a lab drawer overflowing with polystyrene peanuts). Moreover, 3D printing offers design flexibility and personalization which provides a more efficient approach to problem solving. Having access to tailored products that meet specific needs, which are not commercially available, is a significant asset. It was eye-opening to realize how dependent we are as researchers, and how reliant our work can be, on what is commercially available. 3D printing for my own lab demonstrated the feasibility and impact of this strategy, paving the way for more ambitious goals.
Go big or go home. Capitalizing on the initial project’s success, I decided to expand into a larger scale initiative. With research and education as its main focus, I set up to start a 3D printing service for the Faculty of Science. Considerable funding was needed and I was able to secure $48,000 through the Campus Sustainability Grant Program managed by the Energy and Climate Action office at the University of Alberta. The allocated funds were used to procure a new 3D printer and onboard part time assistants for the first year of the initiative.
The infrastructure. Research support is not trivial. That’s why the Department of Chemistry has a Technical Services Group. Its members were, and still are, a major partner in this service. Access to different material was important to them, as well as reliability and print quality. For those reasons and within the scope of our budget, we invested in an UltiMaker S7 3D printer. It was installed in the Shack, a pre-existing university infrastructure with goals aligned to ours.
How does it work? This service has two main activities. The first being: low cost 3D printed laboratory accessories, made available to anyone visiting the Chemistry Research Stores. These accessories are part of a workflow optimization series called the “SNADER” series. Previously tested and user approved, they target common laboratory issues or tasks, and adapt to hardware present in almost all research spaces. The second main activity is custom design and 3D printing solutions. With the help of the Technical Services Group and the 3D printing assistants, we were able to work with teaching laboratories, research groups and individuals across campus. This aspect covered approximately two thirds of the effort invested in this project and it focused on expanding the use of 3D printing in labs. Typically, a researcher would reach out via email or by filling in a dedicated work order form. Once received, our team would work on these projects and follow up with the required actions. These requests spanned a wide range of research fields, and proved once more the versatility of 3D printing in solving niche problems. Whenever the nature of the work allowed for it, these designs were made accessible online.
Outreach. During its inaugural year, the 3D printing service accomplished various milestones. It supported 35 different research groups from various departments, mainly: Chemistry, Biological Sciences, Physics, Oncology, Pediatrics, Psychology, and Chemical Engineering. We also assisted several technical groups and support services such as: the Shack, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory, Biological Services, Scientific Glassblowing, Chemical Stores and Receiving, X-ray Crystallography Laboratory, Mass Spectrometry Facility, Advanced Microscopy Facility, Division of Hospital Medicine, Child and Adolescent Protection Centre…
Money saved is money earned. In addition to the environmental savings and the research support service, this initiative was financially self-sustaining and generated approximately $25,000 in financial savings over its first year. Taken together, these factors contribute to the sustainable aspect of the 3D printing service and are in alignment with the University’s policies and goals toward sustainable ways of research, production and consumption.
Acknowledgements:
This project was supported by the University of Alberta Campus Sustainability Grant Program (ID# 10-202305). I would like to thank everyone from the Energy and Climate Action office for their involvement with this project. I am grateful to Dirk Kelm, manager of the Technical Services Group, and Laura Pham, our Academic Department Manager, for their unwavering support. Special thanks to Michael Barteski from the Chemistry Research Stores and Vincent Bizon, head machinist from our machine shop, for their invaluable assistance. My appreciation goes to Dr. Mark Freeman for generously hosting our printer in the Shack. Last but not least, I whish to acknowledge the hard work Yahia Rizk and Tri Nguyen have put into their roles as 3D printing assistants.
Why I think each lab should invest in a 3D printer?
