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The ubiquity of self-tracking devices and smartphone apps has empowered people to collect data about themselves and try to self-improve. However, people with little to no personal analytics experience may not be able to analyze data or run experiments on their own (self-experiments). To lower the barrier to intervention-based self-experimentation, we developed an app called Self-E, which guides users through the experiment. We conducted a 2-week diary study with 16 participants from the local population and a second study with a more advanced group of users to investigate how they perceive and carry out self-experiments with the help of Self-E, and what challenges they face. We find that users are influenced by their preconceived notions of how healthy a given behavior is, making it difficult to follow Self-E’s directions and trusting its results. We present suggestions to overcome this challenge, such as by incorporating empathy and scaffolding in the system. 

Neural regeneration devices interface with the nervous system and can provide flexibility in material choice, implantation without the need for additional surgeries, and the ability to serve as guides augmented with physical, biological (e.g., cellular), and biochemical functionalities. Given the complexity and challenges associated with neural regeneration, a 3D printing approach to the design and manufacturing of neural devices can provide next‐generation opportunities for advanced neural regeneration via the production of anatomically accurate geometries, spatial distributions of cellular components, and incorporation of therapeutic biomolecules. A 3D printing‐based approach offers compatibility with 3D scanning, computer modeling, choice of input material, and increasing control over hierarchical integration. Therefore, a 3D printed implantable platform can ultimately be used to prepare novel biomimetic scaffolds and model complex tissue architectures for clinical implants in order to treat neurological diseases and injuries. Further, the flexibility and specificity offered by 3D printed in vitro platforms have the potential to be a significant foundational breakthrough with broad research implications in cell signaling and drug screening for personalized healthcare. This progress report examines recent advances in 3D printing strategies for neural regeneration as well as insight into how these approaches can be improved in future studies.

 

Extrusion‐based 3D printing, an emerging technology, has been previously used in the comprehensive fabrication of light‐emitting diodes using various functional inks, without cleanrooms or conventional microfabrication techniques. Here, polymer‐based photodetectors exhibiting high performance are fully 3D printed and thoroughly characterized. A semiconducting polymer ink is printed and optimized for the active layer of the photodetector, achieving an external quantum efficiency of 25.3%, which is comparable to that of microfabricated counterparts and yet created solely via a one‐pot custom built 3D‐printing tool housed under ambient conditions. The devices are integrated into image sensing arrays with high sensitivity and wide field of view, by 3D printing interconnected photodetectors directly on flexible substrates and hemispherical surfaces. This approach is further extended to create integrated multifunctional devices consisting of optically coupled photodetectors and light‐emitting diodes, demonstrating for the first time the multifunctional integration of multiple semiconducting device types which are fully 3D printed on a single platform. The 3D‐printed optoelectronic devices are made without conventional microfabrication facilities, allowing for flexibility in the design and manufacturing of next‐generation wearable and 3D‐structured optoelectronics, and validating the potential of 3D printing to achieve high‐performance integrated active electronic materials and devices.