Shapeways: Making 3D printing a reality

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Hello all you lovely people.
Today I want to talk about a technology that is being used in many areas, amongst them my favourites of medical science and fashion. I was contacted by Shapeways, which is a 3D printing service based in New York to write about the technology, and I think it is a very innovative and cool thing.

The technology of 3D printing, also known as Additive Manufacturing are various processes used to create three dimensional objects. Additive Manufacturing refers to the method of which the three dimensional object is created, by adding layer after layer of material until you have your object, whatever it may be. The process however starts by creating a design in a 3D modelling software. At Shapeways anyone can upload designs, and you don't even need to have any experience with 3D modelling. I'm quite intrigued myself and only need some inspiration to come up with a design to try it out. After the file is created with the 3D design, the Additive Manufacturing Machine (a 3D printer) reads the file and produce layer after layer of material to produce the 3D object. A whole range of different materials can be used, among them plastics, metals and ceramics.

This technology can be used in many different areas and is very popular in design and architecture. For someone like me who is working in medical science I can see this technology being used for numerous different things in our scientific discipline. In fact 3D printing has already been used to create implants for patients, everything from hips to jaws have been produced as well as full on prosthetics. How cool is that!

Another area where 3D printing is becoming very big is in fashion and style. Everything from accessories (many of which I want) to a completely 3D printed dress now exist to my excitement. The designer duo Nervous System has design a fully movable dress that has been printed by Shapeways. You might wonder how it is even possible to create a dress out of plastics, metals and ceramics, I sure wondered. But look at this dress! It is completely functioning and it moves like any beautiful cloth would.

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The design is super interesting, because they've created interlocking parts which results in a complex structure of moveable, kinematic wearables. Basically they've used little moveable pieces that together form something like a fabric. And what is even more amazing is that a dress is "too big" to be able to create in a 3D printer, but with the help of a physics simulation their moveable design could be folded into a small enough object that could be printed by the 3D printer. When it is then taken out of the machine the folded piece of fabric can be unfolded into a dress. This technique enables the creation of new "fabrics" that can have all sorts of different properties depending on how they are designed, such things like the stretch, flexibility, warmth and colours of the new fabrics can be altered and mixed.

The technique may also be used to create super custom-fit clothing and accessories by body data. It truly sounds like something out of science fiction. But the dress is real and located at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. If you want to see the dress actually worn and moving look at this amazing video that explains a little more in detail how the dress was created:

Shapeways want to make 3D printing accessible to everyone, which I think is a very honourable mission, as it allows people like you and me to create incredible things, making ideas into reality, only hindered by our imagination. Shapeways is a marketplace where designers can upload and sell their 3D designs, for example this lovely DNA pendant caught my eye immediately (being the science nerd that I am and working with DNA), but just thinking about how it was made makes it that much cooler.

DNA necklace by the shop somersault18:24 (here)

In Shapeways I have definitely found a place where I will shop for myself (I really want that DNA pendant) and friends, and just being able to say that a gift has been 3D printed makes my mind boggle with excitement. The fiction of it all is no more - it is true and real science that is being used to create the coolest accessories and designs.

Much love!

Understanding Cancer - The Cancer Series part 6

It was a while ago the Cancer Series made an appearance, so let me refresh your minds. In the latest part of the Cancer Series (part 5) we learned about oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes. As you recall, oncogenes are like the gas is stuck on a car. Mutations in oncogenes changes the appearance of the protein the gene codes for so drastically that the protein that is supposed to turn it off cannot recognise it anymore. So the oncogene is stuck on "On" and tells the cell to grow and grow and grow... Tumour suppressor genes are like the brake of a car. They tell cells to stop growing. However mutations in tumour suppressor genes is like losing the brakes of the car, so suddenly there is nothing that can stop the cell.

There are many different types of treatments against cancer though. There is no real cure, because as you remember in part 3 we discussed how all cancers are unique. However there are different methods, with varying preciseness that exist against cancer. I thought we'd talk about the treatments that are used in this part.

The most obvious way to treat a cancer is to cut the tumour out of the body, which is called resection. Resection is not always possible, the tumour might be growing in a way where it is impossible to cut it out. And even when it is possible to resect the tumour, it is difficult to know if every single cancer cell has been resected, and cancers can grow back.

The next step of treatments are chemotherapy and radiation. Starting with chemotherapy; it's different types of drugs that is injected into the bloodstream and therefore affect the whole body. It's a very blunt and unprecise method. Chemotherapies affect all cells in the body that are growing rapidly. Which means that cancer cells are targeted, but also normal healthy cells that grow rapidly, for example hair cells, and cells inside the gut. This is the reason for the many horrible side-effects of chemotherapy, with e.g. digestive/intestinal symptoms and hair loss.

Radiation is also one method of treatment that is quite blunt. The radiation used for cancer therapy is ionising radiation. The way it works is that it tears DNA to pieces. The DNA in the cancer cells gets so mangled up that the cancer cell can no longer make copies of the DNA, which means it can no longer grow or divide, so it dies. However radiation does not target just cancer cells, but all cells it "touches". The radiation is of course aimed right at the tumour, but nearby healthy cells will be affected.

This time we discussed the methods of treatments that are available against cancer. We discussed how they are all quite blunt and unprecise methods. In the next part I will tell you about the new generation of treatments that are just starting to be used, and that has/will revolutionise cancer treatment!

On to the outfit...

This dress makes me smile because it's got all the things I love in a dress. It's got long, lovely sleeves, a cute little collar, beautiful pleats and the cutest polka dots! Also, it's pink, so you've got to love that too. And it's a nice mellow shade of pink, so I don't feel too "Barbie" wearing it, even thought it's terribly cute in every other way.

Dress: ModCloth (old)

Tights: Primark

Hope you have all had a lovely weekend!
Much love

Understanding Cancer - The Cancer Series part 5

In the latest part of the Cancer Series we discussed how each cancer will get a unique set of genetic changes (i.e. mutations), and how that affects the treatment for cancer. I did also mention that there are two types of genes that are always involved in cancer. And today we'll discuss these in depth.

Oncogenes
Oncogenes are a type of genes that have the potential when changed, i.e. mutated, to cause a cancer. Every gene starts out in a normal way, without any mutations or changes. The genes that then can cause a cancer if changed is in its normal condition called a proto-oncogene. A proto-oncogene that is changed either by mutations of by being expressed at a higher level (higher expression of a gene leads to there being more of the coded protein of that gene) has then become an oncogene. Oncogenes are usually genes that code for proteins that tell the cell to grow. Normally proto-oncogenes are quite silent and dormant, because cells are not supposed to grow all the time, but only sometimes. However, just one mutation in a proto-oncogene can turn it into an oncogene, where the gas is stepped on and the gene cannot be turned off. That's when it gets dangerous. The protein that is coded by the oncogene is stuck in one gear where it constantly signals for the cell to grow and grow and grow...

Cancers are smart, an oncogene, that has been mutated, looks so different that the proteins that are supposed to stop it when it gets out of hand can't recognise it any more, and therefore can't switch it off. So the cells never get the signal to stop growing and dividing, which as you remember from part 2 of the Cancer Series is one of the traits needed to cause a cancer.


Tumour Suppressor Genes
Tumour Suppressors (TS) are genes that protect against cancer development, however these can cause cancer as well. TS are like the opposite of oncogenes, they stop a cell from growing and dividing. You can think of TS as the brake if an oncogene is the gas. You have two copies of the TS, just as with all of your genes (this is because you have two sets of chromosomes, one from your mother and one from your father). What happens in cancer is that one of the copies of a TS gene is mutated and loses its function, and the other is lost in some way (either by mutation or by chunks of the chromosome being lost in division). Losing the function of only one TS is okay, the cells can manage with the gene on the other chromosome that is still normal. When both lose their function though it's like the brakes of a car disappearing. Suddenly there is no stopping the cells growth. Mutations in the TS can usually happen in a wide variety of ways. So it is very hard to stop the cells from losing their TS.


As you remember we said that a cancer usually contains at least five or six mutations. So a cancer cell usually has a combination of different mutations in oncogenes and TS. And as tumours get bigger, there are more mutations in genes, which make the tumour meaner and more aggressive. So there can be thousands of possible combinations of mutations in one single cancer cell. Again, this is why a drug might not work for some patients while being effective for another patient. See part 3 of the Cancer Series for more about treatments.

This time we discussed oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes. Oncogenes are genes that act like the gas of the car. Mutations in the oncogenes leads to the gene telling the cell to grow and divide, even when it should not, it's like the car is stuck on the gas, like in the movie Speed. Tumour suppressor genes are the brakes of the car, telling the cell to stop growing. Mutations in the tumour suppressor genes leads to the genes losing their function, and it's like a car loses its brakes.

On to the outfit...

This dress is from one of my favourite brands, Miss Patina. They are on the pricey side, but I usually shop in their sale. Miss Patina has lovely dresses that are vintage inspired and have a very "English air" about them, which I really appreciate. This particular dress made me fall in love with it because of the beautiful pearl buttons. I love it when a fairly ordinary dress becomes so much more with little details like buttons.

Dress: Miss Patina (old)

Earrings: Gift

Understanding Cancer - The Cancer Series part 4

Last time we discussed how there is no cure for cancer, because cancer is really many different diseases and there is about as many cancers as there are cancer patients. This time we will look further into that. What exactly do I mean when I say that there are as many cancers as there are cancer patients?

From part 1 and 2 of the Cancer Series you remember that cancer cells are cells that have special traits and can grow uncontrollably. In part 2 we talked about the "hallmarks" of cancer and we said that a cancer cell can grow on it's own and forever, it can ignore signals that tells it to stop growing or that tells it to die. At the same time cancer cells can create new blood vessels and by doing so can spread to the rest of the body. Well, how come a cancer cell can have all these traits and characteristics. The answer lies in the genes.

Genes are snippets of DNA. DNA consists of nucleotides, which are the building blocks of DNA. If you've studied these things before, you'll remember that there are four nucleotides, A, C, G and T. These nucleotides are arranged in a super specific order and create a certain sequence. Together the sequences tell the cells how to manufacture proteins, and proteins are basically everything we as humans (and other carbon-based life) are made of.

So the gene, the sequence of DNA, is an instruction of how the protein should look and be. Sometimes though, you can have mutations which changes the instructions, and when talking about cancer this is where things go wrong. A mutation in the gene changes the way that the protein it codes for will look. This can alter the protein so drastically that it cannot function normally any more. However just one mutation will not cause cancer. Usually it takes at least five or six genetic changes (i.e. mutations) for a normal cell to become cancerous. And if you think about it, we had six hallmarks of cancer. So a mutation in each of the hallmarks lead to a normal cell being transformed into a cancer cell. And as a tumour gets bigger more and more genes starts to mutate. Some mutations make the cancer more aggressive and "meaner". So there can be thousands of possible combinations of mutations, every cancer is caused by a different set of genetic mutations. And this is why a drug might not work for some patients while it works for others with cancer in the same tissue.

Hopefully now you better understand what I meant when I said that there are as many cancers as there are cancer patients. Each patient will have a unique cancer that has gotten to where it is by taking a different genetic path.

I realise that this part became very science-y so if you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask, I will do my best to try and answer them all. And then next time I'll tell you about two types of genes that are always involved in cancer.

On to the outfit...

This pinafore is from Miss Patina and I absolutely love it. It goes with almost anything and is super comfy and very warm (which is good for someone like me that is always cold). I also really like it because another colour of the same pinafore is worn in Doctor Who by the character Clara Oswald in the episode that will air later tonight! The style is very Clara, and with the colour I got that is in tweed it is also very Doctor, so it is a nice pinafore that sums up both the Doctor and Clara in one item of clothing.

I also have to mention the shoes. This is the first time I'm wearing heels in a blog post and that's because I didn't really choose the shoes at all. It was a ModCloth Stylish Surprise. If you're not familiar with the Stylish Surprise that ModCloth hosts every once in a while I'll enlighten you. It's a mystery item that you buy in your size for a fraction of the price. You choose either to buy a dress, an item of clothing (top or bottom), or a pair of shoes, and you have no idea what you are sent until you get it. It is super exciting! I think about what I might get from the moment I order it until I actually receive it (which is usually a couple of weeks, since I live in Sweden). I received these lovely shoes as my Stylish Surprise and I fell in love within an instant. I am so into these shoes. They aren't too high, they're comfortable (which I don't usually think high heels are), and they are so pretty! I was super excited that I received these shoes. Definitely worth the 10 dollars I spent on my shoe Stylish Surprise.

Pinafore: Miss Patina (here)

Blouse: Miss Patina (here)

Tights: Primark

Shoes: ModCloth (sold out, similar here)

I also got some dresses and tops as Stylish Surprises, but I will show you those in another post. For now I will conclude with this: I am lucky in my Stylish Surprises, and have always received pretty things that I like. So I am definitely pro-Stylish Surprise by ModCloth! It's about twice a year, so it's important to keep an eye at ModCloth's social media pages where they announce it. This is by the way a completely non-sponsered post. Just wanted to let you in on the exciting Stylish Surprise if you didn't already know about it.

Have a lovely weekend and a beautiful rest of October.
Much love!

Understanding Cancer - The Cancer Series part 3

In the latest part of the Cancer series we learned which traits that makes a cell a cancer cell. Today I thought we'd discuss the question: Is there a cure for cancer?

The quick answer is unfortunately "No", but lets try to understand why there is no real cure for cancer yet.

Cancer has been around for ages and about 1/3 of the population will develop a cancer at some point in their life, so it's something that affects lots of us and the motivation for a cure is strong. Considering how much progress we make in medical science and how much research that is done on cancer you'd think there'd be a cure. Many treatments and drugs exist against cancer, but not all patients respond in the same way to these treatments. One patient can take a drug and get better while another patient with the same type of cancer will not get any better.

The thing is, there is no one cure for cancer. It is impossible to find THE cure for cancer because all cancers are so very different. Cancer is complicated, not only can it originate in almost any type of tissue in the body (e.g. skin, breast, lung and so on), but each tumour that forms develops in its own way and differently from another tumour. Breaking it down further: Two patients that both have breast cancer can have tumours that have developed in totally different ways. So the tumours may look alike on the outside, but they will most probably act and react very differently to drugs.

So the easy answer is that we haven't found a cure for cancer because it is not one single disease.
It's a question wrongly asked; There is no one cancer to cure, but lots of cancers that we need to cure. And because each individual patient has its unique cancer, you need as many cures for cancers as you have cancer patients. However this is something that we are getting closer to achieving, and I will come back to this later on in the Cancer Series because it is very exciting and interesting, but we need to understand a bit more genetics to really understand it, so this will be the topic of the next part of the Cancer Series.

As always, if there are any questions please feel free to leave them in the comments section.
On to the outfit...

Turtleneck: H&M (old)

Pinafore: Mod Dolly (here)

Tights: Primark (old)

This lovely pinafore from Mod Dolly is a fantastic autumn dress. It has endless outfit opportunities, and I believe that you will see much more of it on the blog during this season. In fact, you might even recognise it because I'm not the person to exclude tartan from my spring and summer wardrobe. I've worn this pinafore in the middle of the summer with a short sleeved blouse, see it here. However, there is something especially "right" about tartan in the autumn!

Much love!

Understanding Cancer - The Cancer Series part 2

In the latest part that also happened to be the first part of the Cancer Series we answered the question "What is cancer?".
We know that it is when a cell's normal division is out of control and it grows uncontrollably in size and number and spreads in the body. You can read part 1 here.

But cells are supposed to divide and grow, so what are the differences between a normal cell and a cancer cell? I'll try and answer that today.

There are quite a few traits or "hallmarks" if you will, that are connected to cancer. These traits are all that is needed for a normal healthy cell to become a malignant cancer cell. These are the underlying principles that are needed to create a cancer:

1. They are self-sufficient and can stimulate their own growth
Usually cells need signals that tell them to grow. A cancer cell does not need this signal, but can grow even without it.

2. They can resist signals that would normally stop their growth
Cells are not supposed to grow unless there is a signal telling it to do so. A cancer cell can ignore the signals that say "Stop growing!" and continue to grow when a normal cell would not.

3. They can resist what is called apoptosis
Apoptosis is a programmed and normal cell death that happens when cells get older. A cancer cell however can refuse apoptosis i.e. death, by ignoring the signals.

4. They can multiply without an end
Normal cells can only multiply a set number of times. Cancer cells do not have this limit and become "immortal".

5. They can stimulate the growth of blood vessels
The process by which new blood vessels are formed is called angiogenesis and is not something that all cells can do. Cancer cells can kickstart the process and by doing so can supply themselves with nutrients through the newly formed blood vessels.

6. They can invade surrounding tissue, spread and become metastases
Normal cells can only grow until they reach another cell, but cancer cells grow beyond that and can break and invade surrounding tissue, spreading either on the site or moving through blood vessels or the lymphatic system to reach new sites where they grow.


In a simplified way: A cancer cell can grow on it's own (1) and forever (4), it can ignore signals that tells it to stop growing (2) or that tells it to die (3). At the same time cancer cells can create new blood vessels (5) and by doing so can spread to the rest of the body (6).

As always if you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment down below! I hope you liked this part of the Cancer Series. I would love your feedback on it! Is it too complicated or too easy? Let me know!

On to the outfit...

Beret: Larmoni (here)

Top: KappAhl

Skirt: Larmoni (here) 

I've worn this skirt before, but I predicted then that it would become a staple in my autumn wardrobe and it really has. I already have a handful more outfits in mind with this skirt. It's a weird fawn colour but it goes with everything! It was such a surprise to me, but I definitely enjoy coming up with new ways to wear it.

The top is from the Swedish clothing store KappAhl, so my Scandinavian readers can find it easily. Just a breton top will do though. I was surprised with how well fawn and navy goes together. I'm also soon starting an entire collection of berets. I just love them! I want one in every colour, and Larmoni basically has me covered.

Understanding Cancer - The Cancer Series part 1

If you follow my blog you know that recently I've had a bit of trouble with what I wanted to say on my blog. It's a style blog, and will continue to be so, but I felt like I have too little to say and to offer. I scrutinised my interest and my knowledge and I came to the conclusion that if anything I can write about science. Medical science is my field of research, more particularly pathology, and even more particular than that - cancer of the large intestine. I work in a research group that focuses solely on cancer of the large intestine, that is cancer in the colon and the rectum (which is the bit between the colon and the anus). We have people working on all the different aspects of this particular cancer, but my work is mostly to do with the genes and mutations that cause cancer in the large intestine.

So I thought I'd describe a bit of what I work on and break it down for you all so that it's not just some medical mumbo-jumbo but actually understandable. To start we need to ask the basic question: What is cancer?

Cancer is a disease that is caused by cells that divide abnormally and more than they should. This can often lead to a growth - a tumour. A tumour is not always cancer, you can have a tumour that is benign, which means that it is "nice", grows slowly and is usually safe to have. A tumour is basically just a mass of cells. For example, a wart is a tumour. Warts are not usually dangerous, they're a bit gross, but they are definitely not cancer. Cancer evolves when the cells normal division is disrupted and goes out of control. It's a cancer when the cancer cells grow in size and number and grow into surrounding tissue or spread to other parts of the body (via the blood or lymphatic system) and become cancers at the new location (what you have then is a metastasis which is basically a "daughter" tumour). The tumour (the mass of, in this case, cancer cells) is now called a malignant tumour which behaves more aggressively.

Hopefully now, you understand what cancer is on a basic level. So my question to you is: Are you interested in me continuing this and writing more about science and specifically cancer (which is my area of interest and knowledge)? Or is it too much?
If you have any questions about the actual information in this blog post pop down to the comments and ask me, I will do my best to answer!

I promised that I would continue as a style blogger as well, so I wore this lovely deer dress from Larmoni. Again.

But this time I paired it with a long sleeved blouse because it is getting colder here. I am very excited about the weather getting chillier and the air getting crisper. I've mentioned many time that I love autumn, and slowly the leaves are transforming into the golden colours that we associate with this wonderful season.

Blouse: Miss Patina (here)

Dress: Larmoni (here)

Shoes: New Look via Asos (here)

Socks: Primark (old)

Much love