California-based medical 3D printing service bureau PrinterPrezz has partnered with UCSF Surgical Innovations, an incubator-accelerator for medtech innovators at UC San Francisco.

PrinterPrezz is looking to open a new co-location facility which will leverage the medical expertise of UCSF to develop new IP. The hope is that this will further research and development of 3D printed medical products, with a faster time-to-market.

Growing the PrinterPrezz 3D printing portfolio

PrinterPrezz offers a range of 3D printing services to medical professionals, including access to 3D printing machines, 3D manipulation software, and 3D scanners, as well as advanced manufacturing processes. With this technology at its disposal the company can produce surgical aids, prosthetics, implants and various other medical devices.

In December 2018, the company opened its Innovation Center, a one-stop 3D printing facility in Fremont, which brings design, prototyping and manufacturing under one roof, aiming to streamline the production processes of medical devices for PrinterPrezz’s clients.

PrinterPrezz has also partnered with some of the industry leaders in medical 3D printing. Most recently this has included distributor of 3D scanners Growshapes LLC, as PrinterPrezz looked to scale its 3D imaging lab, utilizing 3D imaging technologies from Growshapes to scan medical parts and implants in high resolution.

Other partners have included California-based medical device company Si-bone, with which PrinterPrezz have developed and built 3D printed implant appliances.

3D printing advanced medical devices

The PrinterPrezz & UCSF facility will provide key resources to medical clients, including engineering and manufacturing access, along with an ‘open ecosystem’ of hardware and software. The aim of the facility is to enable hospitals to take dormant IP and new ideas to market quickly by providing direct access to 3D printing technology not available inside the hospital.

“We recognize the special role of innovation hospitals in making clinical advancements more accessible to broader patient populations,” said Shri Shetty, CEO of PrinterPrezz.

“We established our co-location center as a foundation for hospital partners to incubate and accelerate ideas from sketches to commercialization quickly. Our joint IP agreement provides our partner hospitals an essential environment to develop their ideas safely.”

Also included in the partnership will be access to the expertise of UCSF clinicians, engineers, trainees, and their knowledge of clinical needs and product performance specifications.

Dr. Hanmin Lee, Professor of Surgery at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital said, “Our commitment to innovation, research, and new technologies drives us to continuously develop transformative methods of care.”

“UCSF Surgical Innovations’ partnership brings together university research and development expertise with access to outstanding industry design and manufacturing capabilities.”

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Featured image shows a 3D printed PrinterPrezz logo. Photo via PrinterPrezz.