3D Printing Biomolecular Models
As an undergraduate Eduardo came into the lab thinking 3D printing was science fiction. After several months immersing himself in the MakerLab, he developed a process to download protein data sets from the Protein Data Bank and render them in a molecular visualizer, in a format suitable to be 3D printed. In the course of his work, he downloaded from the protein bank and rendered on his own over 50 proteins that had never before been physicalized. The National Institutes of Health noticed his work, and while still an undergraduate, in a 2016 collaboration with the NIH, Eduardo published a technique for using low end consumer 3D printers to make models of proteins. Soon after Eduardo worked closely with Prof. Krummel’s Biochemistry class teaching students to print proteins for other students, revolutionizing the teaching of molecular biology and moving it from 3D projection on screen to physical objects every student could handle, examine, and take home with them.