14 DAY TRIAL // Viruses aren't something anyone should want to be infected with, but a certain man believes they can be adapted to help mankind instead, by destroying cancer if you can believe it.
Autodesk’s genetic engineer Andrew Hessel also happens to be a genetic engineer, as well as a cell and genetic biologist.
He is part of Autodesk's Pier 39 facility, a lab that the company set up specifically as “a lab to study labs.” Basically, it's where Autodesk studies science and how to best help scientific endeavors, in a manner of speaking.
Hessel believes that it is, or soon will be, possible to 3D print special viruses, called oncolytic viruses, which will be able to break cancer cells apart.
It's a classic case of using an enemy's own weapons against them, in this case the enemy being diseases and pathogens.
The project belongs to the domain of viral engineering and will take a while to bear fruit, since we have to examine living cells first, and only then will we be able to program the ability to distinguish between healthy and mutated ones. Still, there is already one 3D printed virus, even if it's not worth using yet.
Hessler hopes to be able to 3D print viruses for a dollar soon, but for now, the cost is of one grand.
