Dr Eoin O’Cearbhaill

3D printing to revolutionise medical devices

Dr Eoin O’Cearbhaill, UCD School of Mechanical & Materials Engineering

3D printing technology is breaking down traditional barriers for manufacturing objects. It turns a design into an object by ‘printing’ layers of materials, building up three-dimensional shapes. At UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Dr Eoin O’Cearbhaill and his team at the UCD Medical Device Design Group are developing new and innovative ways to make cost-effective, efficient and often highly personalised objects to help us to monitor health, deliver life-saving medicines and to support the body as it repairs after injury.

3D printing lets us quickly tweak designs and make them on the spot so we can test them out.

3D printing: a game-changer for medical devices

Imagine a needle that can deliver a therapeutic drug without any pain. Or a rigid support for a recovering ankle that fits like a glove. How about a light but strong mesh that can gird blood vessels grafted in to support an ailing heart?

These innovations and many more are in the pipeline, and Dr Eoin O’Cearbhaill’s team at UCD are hastening their arrival thanks to 3D printing, a technology that is disrupting the world of manufacturing. 

3D printing uses molten material as its ‘ink’ and builds up layers, following instructions for a pre-programmed design. It is relatively cheap, and the minimal equipment means that small labs, schools and even households can now design and make objects on the spot.

3D printing is already starting to have an impact in medicine, with doctors ‘printing’ out anatomical objects from scans of patients ahead of surgery. And Dr O’Cearbhaill is now using 3D printing to explore the boundaries of medical devices.

Benefits inside and out

Researchers in the UCD Medical Devices Group are using 3D printing to tackle a range of medical issues with the aim of making solutions that are more targeted, more personalised and more cost-effective.

Dr. O’Cearbhaill explains “3D printing lets us quickly tweak designs and make them on the spot so we can test them out.” The group is working on new ways to make arrays of half millimetre-high microneedles mounted on a patch that can be placed on the skin.

PhD student Ellen Cahill is using 3D printing to develop porous microneedles for delivering therapeutic drugs into the body, and her work won first prize at the 2016 UCD MedTech Innovation Sprint Programme.

Meanwhile Dr O’Cearbhaill, UCD engineer Professor Madeleine Lowery, Harvard engineer Professor Conor Walsh and UCD PhD student Kevin Krieger are developing flexible microneedle sensors to improve monitoring of athletes and people with neuromuscular conditions, such as Parkinson’s Disease.

It’s not just the tiny devices that can benefit from 3D printing: in summer 2016, biomedical engineering student Ciara Giles Doran worked in the UCD Medical Device Design Group on 3D-printed personalised ankle supports that can support the lower limb as the patient walks. Group members Dr Shane Keaveney and Colin Keogh, have set up a charity, The Rapid Foundation, to help provide 3D printed supports such as casts and splints in low-resource settings and recently ran pilot projects in India and Uganda with UCD Volunteers Overseas.

Moving to the interior of the body, Dr O’Cearbhaill’s group is working with colleagues to 3D print implantable devices for people with coronary artery disease or diabetes, two of the most prevalent chronic diseases in the developed world.

PhD student Oisín Byrne is working with the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Research in Medical Devices, Cúram, and Boston-based Neograft Technologies Inc. on methods to reliably 3D print structures that can improve coronary bypass grafts.

Then, as part of the EU Horizon 2020 project DRIVE, the UCD group is seeking to help people with Type 1 diabetes who cannot make enough insulin and would benefit from a transplant of islet cells to generate the hormone.

Dr Fergal Coulter, a postdoctoral researcher in Dr O’Cearbhaill’s group is 3D printing protective ‘shells’ that can act as a protective housing for implanted islet cells, making transplants more efficient and suitable for even more people with diabetes.

While many of the technologies are still in development, one of the projects is being commercialised: a tissue anchorage system for use in surgery that Dr O’Cearbhaill is now driving with Dr. Nicky Bertollo and Dr. Seamus Morris. The trio have founded a spin-out company Latch Medical. “We have come up with a clever way of getting medical devices to stick to tissue,” says Dr O’Cearbhaill. “We are focusing first on applications in wound closure, where we are hoping to displace existing suturing and stapling technology, but we are very excited about its wider applicability in addressing multiple clinical needs.”

Dr O’Cearbhaill and his group would like to acknowledge the funding support they have received through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 645991 (DRIVE) and a Marie Sklodowska-Curie European Reintegration Grant under H2020 (Project Reference 658761 (Micropod)), a Naughton Fellowship (Ellen Cahill), the Irish Research Council (Kevin Krieger), Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Research in Medical Devices, Cúram and Enterprise Ireland. For more details on these projects, please visit

• (opens in a new window)http://drive-project.eu/, 
• (opens in a new window)http://www.therapidfoundation.com
• http://www.ucd.ie/mdd/.

Research References

Journal Articles

• Meagher, Philip; O’Cearbhaill, Eoin D; Byrne, James H; Browne, David J; “Bulk metallic glasses for implantable medical devices and surgical tools.” Advanced Materials, 28, 27, 5755-5762, 2016
• Roche, Ellen T; Fabozzo, Assunta; Lee, Yuhan; Polygerinos, Panagiotis; Friehs, Ingeborg; Schuster, Lucia; Whyte, William; Berazaluce, Alejandra Maria Casar; Bueno, Alejandra; Lang, Nora; “A light-reflecting balloon catheter for atraumatic tissue defect repair.” Science Translational Medicine.” 7, 306, 306ra149-306ra149, 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Zhang, Hong; Zhao, Tianyu; Duffy, Patrick; Dong, Yixiao; Ní Annaidh, Aisling ; O’Cearbhaill, Eoin; Wang, Wenxin; “Hydrolytically Degradable Hyperbranched PEG-Polyester Adhesive with Low Swelling and Robust Mechanical Properties.” Advanced healthcare materials, 4, 15, 2260-2268, 2015
• Zhang, Hong; Zhao, Tianyu; Newland, Ben; Duffy, Patrick; Ní Annaidh, Aisling; O’Cearbhaill, Eoin D; Wang, Wenxin; “On demand and negative-thermo-swelling tissue adhesive based on highly branched ambivalent PEG–catechol copolymers.” Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 3, 31, 6420-6428, 2015, Royal Society of Chemistry
• Cahill, Ellen M, and Eoin D O’Cearbhaill. 2015. “Toward Biofunctional Microneedles for Stimulus Responsive Drug Delivery.” Bioconjugate Chemistry, June. American Chemical Society. doi:10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.5b00211.
• Yang, S Y, E O’Cearbhaill, J F Ong, B Pomahac, and J M Karp. 2015. “A Bio-Inspired Swellable Microneedle  Adhesive for Mechanical Interlocking with Tissue.” In BRITISH JOURNAL OF SURGERY, 102:115.
• O’Brien, Barry, Eoin O’Cearbhaill, and Mark Bruzzi. 2014. “A Stent with Customizable Length for Treatment of Critical Limb Ischemia: Clinical Need, Device Development and Preclinical Testing.” Cardiovascular Engineering and Technology 5 (4). Springer US: 317–33.
• O’Cearbhaill, Eoin D, Kelvin S Ng, and Jeffrey M Karp. 2014. “Emerging Medical Devices for Minimally Invasive Cell Therapy.” Mayo Clinic Proceedings 89 (2): 259–73. doi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2013.10.020.
• Lang, Nora, Maria J Pereira, Yuhan Lee, Ingeborg Friehs, Nikolay V Vasilyev, Eric N Feins, Klemens Ablasser, Eoin D O’Cearbhaill, Chenjie Xu, Assunta Fabozzo, Robert Padera, Steve Wasserman, Franz Freudenthal, Lino S Ferreira, Robert Langer, Jeffrey M Karp, J Pedro. 2014. “A Blood-Resistant Surgical Glue for Minimally Invasive Repair of Vessels and Heart Defects.” Science Translational Medicine 6 (218). American Association for the Advancement of Science: 218ra6–218ra6.
• Yang, Seung Yun, Eoin D O’Cearbhaill, Geoffroy C Sisk, Kyeng Min Park, Woo Kyung Cho, Martin Villiger, Brett E Bouma, Bohdan Pomahac, and Jeffrey M Karp. 2013. “A Bio-Inspired Swellable Microneedle Adhesive for Mechanical Interlocking with Tissue.” Nature Communications. doi:10.1038/ ncomms2715.
• Lang, Nora, Maria Nunes Pereira, Ingeborg Friehs, Nikolay Vasilyev, Klemens Ablasser, Eoin O’Cearbhaill, Chenjie Xu, et al. 2012. “A Biocompatible Light-Activated Adhesive for Intra and Extracardiac Applications in Acquired and Congenital Heart Disease.” Circulation 126 (21 Supplement). Am Heart Assoc: A19644.
• Mooney, Emma, Joseph N Mackle, David J-P Blond, Eoin O’Cearbhaill, Georgina Shaw, Werner J Blau, Frank P Barry, Valerie Barron, and J Mary Murphy. 2012. “The Electrical Stimulation of Carbon Nanotubes to Provide a Cardiomimetic Cue to MSCs.” Biomaterials 33 (26). Elsevier: 6132–39.
• Xu, Chenjie, Yuk Kee C Poh, Isaac Roes, Eoin D O’Cearbhaill, Mads Emil Matthiesen, Luye Mu, Seung Yun Yang, David Miranda-Nieves, Daniel Irimia, and Jeffrey M Karp. 2012. “A Portable Chemotaxis Platform for Short and Long Term Analysis.” PloS One 7 (9). Public Library of Science: e44995.
• O’Cearbhaill, Eoin D, Mary Murphy, Frank Barry, Peter E McHugh, and Valerie Barron. 2010. “Behaviour of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Fibrin-Based Vascular Tissue Engineering Constructs.” Annals of Biomedical Engineering 38 (3). Springer: 649–57.
• Punchard, Marie A, Eoin D O’Cearbhaill, Joseph N Mackle, Peter E McHugh, Terry J Smith, Catherine Stenson-Cox, and Valerie Barron. 2009. “Evaluation of Human Endothelial Cells Post Stent Deployment in a Cardiovascular Simulator in Vitro.” Annals of Biomedical Engineering 37 (7). Springer: 1322–30.
• O’Cearbhaill, Eoin D, Marie A Punchard, Mary Murphy, Frank P Barry, Peter E McHugh, and Valerie Barron. 2008. “Response of Mesenchymal Stem Cells to the Biomechanical Environment of the Endothelium on a Flexible Tubular Silicone Substrate.” Biomaterials 29 (11). Elsevier: 1610–19.
• Crouchley, Claire M, Valerie Barron, Marie Punchard, Eoin O’Cearbhaill, and Terry Smith. 2008. “Development of a Coculture System for Tissue Engineered Vascular Grafts.” Biomedical Materials and Engineering 18 (4). IOS Press: 291–94.
• Punchard, M A, C Stenson-Cox, E D O’Cearbhaill, E Lyons, S Gundy, L Murphy, A Pandit, P E McHugh, and V Barron. 2007. “Endothelial Cell Response to Biomechanical Forces under Simulated Vascular Loading Conditions.” Journal of Biomechanics 40 (14). Elsevier: 3146–54.
• McGarry, J P, B P O’Donnell, P E McHugh, E O’Cearbhaill, and R M McMeeking. 2007. “Computational Examination of the Effect of Material Inhomogeneity on the Necking of Stent Struts under Tensile Loading.” Journal of Applied Mechanics 74 (5). American Society of Mechanical Engineers: 978–89.
• O’Cearbhaill, E D, V Barron, and P E McHugh. 2006. “Characterisation of a Collagen Membrane for Its Potential Use in Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering Applications.” Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine 17 (3). Springer: 195–201.
• Published Patents / Patent Applications Del Nido, P J, H Yamauchi, N V Vasilyev, M.J.M.N. Pereira, and E D O’Cearbhaill. 2015. “Right Ventricular Papillary Approximation.”
• O’CEARBHAILL, E D, B Laulicht, A H Slocum, R S Langer, O C Farokhzad, and J M Karp. 2014. “Methods and Devices for Inserting a Needle.”
• Yang, S Y, J M Karp, E D O’CEARBHAILL, and B Pomahac. 2014. “Swellable Adhesive Needles.” Select Conference Papers
• Thangaramanujam, M., Jones, J., O’Cearbhaill, E., Felle, P. (2015) Designing anatomically realistic 3D-printable prostheses: Connecting the dots with Health Informatics. Royal Academy of Medicine Health Informatics Section Student Symposium, Dublin
• Thangaramanujam, M., Jones, J., Felle, P., O’Cearbhaill, E. (2015) From 3D Gait Analysis to 3D Printing: Leveraging Gait Analysis and Radiology to design Patient Specific, Anatomically Accurate Lower Limb Prostheses. Bioengineering in Ireland 2015 Conference, Maynooth.
• Cahill, E.,  O’Cearbhaill, E. (2015) Engineering Material Considerations for Microneedle Applications in Sensing and Delivery. Bioengineering in Ireland 2015 Conference, Maynooth.