Advances and Challenges of Biomodels for Medical Applications

Dear Colleagues,

A biomodel is an entity that reproduces the geometry of a biological structure and can be obtained in either physical or virtual forms. To manufacture biomodels, a diversity of additive and subtractive processes exists. Initially, subtractive processes such as computerized numerical control milling were predominant. Nowadays, additive technology has been adopted to manufacture three-dimensional customized physical implants and anatomical models. Commonly, there are four main medical applications of biomodels, namely preoperative planning and practicing; surgical training, surgical aid, and teaching purposes; design and construction for prosthetics and implantations; and the device testing and development of biomedical devices at both the macro- and microscale levels. The most traditional biomodels can be manufactured by following three main steps: radiological imaging, data processing, and rapid prototyping. It begins from the extraction of high-resolution multiplanar imaging data, such as MRI or CT. In the second step, a 3D reconstructed image is created using image processing software. The last step corresponds to the creation of models by using 3D printing machines. A new generation of biomodels is the organ-on-a-chip platforms, which are three-dimensional (3D) in vitro biomodels that mimic human organs and promise to improve drug delivery, personalized drug administration, and the early detection of different kinds of pathologies.

This Special Issue seeks to gather research papers and review articles focusing on novel manufacturing processes to obtain biomodels, new materials, applications and characterization of biomodels, and both experimental and numerical simulations of flows in biomedical devices.

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Dr. João Ribeiro
Dr. Graça Minas
Dr. Rui A. Lima
Dr. Diana Pinho
Guest Editors

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