Freeform multiphoton excited microfabrication for biological applications using a rapid prototyping CAD-based approach

Multiphoton excited polymerization has attracted increasing attention as a powerful 3 dimensional nano/microfabrication tool. The nonlinear excitation confines the fabrication region to the focal volume allowing the potential to achieve freeform fabrication with submicron capabilities. We report the adaptation and use of a computer aided design (CAD) approach, based on rapid prototyping software, which exploits this potential for fabricating with protein and polymers in biologically compatible aqueous environments. 3D structures are drawn in the STL format creating a solid model that can be sliced, where the individual sections are then serially fabricated without overwriting previous layers. The method is shown for potential biological applications including microfluidics, cell entrapment, and tissue engineering (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.