Mock of Dalton Lab Research

Department of Bioengineering

The Dalton Lab

Advanced biomedical manufacturing for the benefit of humanity

Current Research Projects

 

 

 

 

Emerging manufacturing processes are at the heart of the Dalton Lab, to produce advanced biomedical materials that can be translated into an application.

We specialize in melt electrowriting but also hybridize other advanced processes to create new objects with distinct properties that outperform existing gold standards.

In particular, we work with 3D printing technologies towards full digitization of biomaterials, allowing rapid research cycles and innovative biomedical products.

Accessibility 

We initiated an open-source 3D printer hardware ecosystem to improve accessibility of melt electrowriting. We built the “MEWron” on the back of the phenomenal Voron Design platform to improve functionality, usability, and capabilities of this technology increases adoption and helps move high resolution additive fabrication techniques further.

Pushing the lImits of Fabrication

Expect anything to happen in this space! The principle of the lab is to not do incremental research but follow the threads of research which are capable of transformative change. We want to be disruptive, we want to invent new fields of research, and we achieve this through curiosity and taking note of the times we look at data and say “That's weird!”.

This is why it is difficult to determine where our next breakthrough comes from, and which projects in the lab drive step-changes in manufacturing capabilities. It could be in microfibers, nanofibers, skin research, hydrogels or structural designs. We LOVE taking tools from other fields and applying them in ours to not reinvent the wheel and perform impactful research that is also economical.

Pushing the envelope of fabrication includes modulating mechanics, materials, printing conditions to selectively tailor scaffold properties and provide unique solutions to a variety of engineering challenges. We want to transform expectations of what's possible.

Applications

We fabricate new materials, so that they can be applied to a spectrum of applications. We currently have projects on muscle, tendon, skin and nerve repair as well as glioblastoma and spinal cord injury research.

University of Oregon Collaborations

Our superpower is collaboration and we work with labs across the University of Oregon. We have worked and published our research with:

A group of people sitting, and standing around a couch

The Willett Lab

Bioengineering

A group of people smiling, wearing business close, posing with their hands up

The Lindberg Lab

Bioengineering

Hettiaratchi lab

The Hettiaratchi Lab

Bioengineering

Guldberg lab out for a hike

The Guldberg Lab

Bioengineering

Ong lab bowling

The Ong Lab

Bioengineering

Jasti Lab outside

The Jasti Lab

Chemistry

abstract cicular shapes (green), with a yellow background - printed using Melt electowiring.

The Polite Lab

 

Headshot

The Buson Lab

Design

We are always looking for new collaborations, across academia and industry. If you are interested in working together, please reach out.

Featured Publications

2026

Open-source computer vision software for advanced visualisation and quantification of melt electrowriting jets

Virtual and Physical Prototyping

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2024

A Versatile and High-Resolution Hydrogel Platform for Volumetric Additive Manufacturing Based on Poly(ethylene glycol) Diacrylate and Alginate Blends

Advanced Materials Technologies

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All Dalton Lab Publications

 

The Dalton Lab 

In 2021, the Dalton Lab relocated to the University of Oregon's Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact. Based in the Department of Bioengineering in Eugene, Oregon, the Dalton Lab uses advanced manufacturing to create biomedical materials that meet clinical challenges and benefit humanity.