来自佛罗里达州博卡拉顿（Boca Raton）的学生德文·威利斯（Devin Willis）创建了一种创新的设备，可以使用3D打印和计算机编程自动化癌症检测。这位14岁的人目前是2017年年轻科学家挑战赛的决赛入围者他三年前使用他的设备SlideMap进入了这一点。
自动化癌症检测
Devin has used 3D printing and computer programming to create a machine that can make the cancer detection process more automated. As one of the leading causes of death in the U.S, Devin believes his device can radically improve detection before it is too late. Devin explains in his competition entry video the difficulty for histopathologists to detect cancer is due to the time and labor involved. Histopathologists are those that diagnose and study disease by understanding the patient’s cells and tissue samples.
通过该设备，Devin希望加快分析数百万个细胞并提高诊断准确性的过程。根据学生的说法，医生只同意他们对组织病理学图像的解释，有75％的时间。借助SlideMap，Devin希望通过计算机自动化和机器学习算法提高准确性，这些算法可以扫描和识别肿瘤的特征。他的方法可以用作医生诊断的验证，也可以用来将扫描的某些区域引起医生的注意。
发展中国家
正如德文（Devin）所解释的那样，尽管在发展中国家中癌症也变得越来越普遍，但它们通常没有足够的组织病理学家。该学生解释说，SlideMap还旨在为发展中国家治疗癌症提供一种可用的手段。
根据德文（Devin）的说法，该机器的建造价格低于1,000美元，这是典型的癌症检测机的急剧降低，价格约为25万美元。但是，Devin在那里不满意，并且将希望使设备更便宜，更加用户友好和紧凑。
谈到当地新闻WPTV，德文（Devin）揭示了祖父最近如何死于癌症，而他的父亲是一名癌症研究员，因此不幸的是，这种疾病与学生的心脏非常接近。作为发现教育和3M年轻科学家挑战赛的一部分，为参赛者提供了导师和德文的3M科学家约翰·亨德森（John Henderson）的指导者，解释了该设备对WPTV的重要性，
Cancer diagnosis is a manual process, so it can take a while before a patient receives their biopsy results to learn if they need treatment. In one elegant bundle of technology, Devin’s invention automates this detection step and could also improve diagnosis accuracy. On top of that, his device is much lower in cost than existing alternatives, which reduces the barrier for developing countries to improve standards of care.
3D printing seems to have become a useful tool in researching this disease as we recently reported on a study whichanalyzed the effectiveness of 3D printing in cancer researchwith claims the technology can be used to produce体外癌细胞。3D打印也已用于治疗癌症，法国研究人员创造了3D printed breast implant lattice for reconstruction surgery.
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Featured image shows a histopathologic image of oral cancer cells. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
