PROTEIN STRUCTURE DISPLAY

Protein structure on a stand

This project was ordered by a good friend of ours who's been doing scientific research on a human protein for almost 10 years. The 3D-structure of the protein is freely available online in one of the many protein databases and can be converted using the right software to an OBJ-file. This fileformat can be imported in our Fusion 360 environment and the software of the 3D-printer.

In Fusion 360, we used the protein structure as a model to design a desktop stand. Our first idea was to use the protein structure to create a 1:1 cutout in the stand we designed but due to some limitations, we opted for a stand with a small hole that fits a connecting pin. This has the advantage though that the protein structure can be easily swapped for another version and/or orientation of the protein. Also the position of the protein structure relative to the stand can be modified if it's printed like this.

This project is a perfect illustration of the many domains in which a 3D-printer can be used. Any protein that has its 3D-structure available in an online repository, can be edited and printed like this.