Tonight I watched the ASMCUE 2022 microbrew “3D Printing to Observe Bacterial Interactions.” The speaker was Nik Stasulli, an Assistant Professor at the University of New Haven. This session was about creating 3D structures to examine bacterial interactions due to chemical secretions. Stasulli started the semester by having groups create Winogradsky columns and isolating bacteria. This was for an environmental microbiology course. Students had either microbiology or ecology background. This course was for juniors, seniors, and graduate students. Participants were introduced to the maker space. Groups had to submit a one page document describing their 3D artifact and what it would do. They used Autodesk Tinkercad. I didn’t know Tinkercad allows you to create classes or groups for your classes. Stasulli mentioned that the software has a useful tutorial. Users can manipulate basic shapes. Students used Petri dishes as models and were then able to include items they created in Tinkercad. Stasulli demonstrated what can be done with Tinkercad in an easy-to-follow screen share tutorial. I have been trying to learn Blender, and I noticed similarities in the system. Users can mirror shapes, group, create negative space, and create. Stasulli shared photos of some of the pre-trial submissions students created. One design allowed division of a Petri dish into fourths and had a notch to exchange substances. Students tested their isolates and controls. Stasulli wants to unlink this activity from the Winogradsky column experiments to allow more time for the design and testing of prototypes. They also want to increase throughput and testing. During the question and answer session, someone asked about what filament they used and if it can be autoclaved. They used PLA and did ethanol sterilization. Nik’s maker space recommended other filaments and options for autoclaving. Another user recommended doing water chambers and filters instead of agar. This session was really fascinating and gave me several ideas! I may reach out to Nik and others!
