> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.fdaweb.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# FDA Video Explains Agency Role in 3D Printing
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/fda-video-explains-agency-role-in-3d-printing/
- Published: 2017-01-04T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T21:58:03.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Devices, #legacy-id-D5137626

FDA has posted a YouTube [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXWKF-PzEF8&ref=fdaweb.com) explaining how it is helping to further 3D printing while adhering to its mission of ensuring medical device safety and effectiveness. In an online [post](http://www.plasticstoday.com/medical/fda-explains-three-rs-medical-3d-printing-new-video/59526162347219?cid=sm.plas2day.site.ptsocial&ref=fdaweb.com), *Plastics Today* says that FDA senior research engineer **James Coburn** “takes viewers on a whirlwind tour of current and potential applications of the technology — from anatomic models that help surgeons prepare for complex procedures and patient-specific implants to the foreseeable future of 3D-printed hearts and kidneys, while highlighting FDA’s role in these developments.”

The post quotes Coburn as saying that agency researchers “work with universities, industry, and other collaborators to understand how the printing process affects the device, how the materials affect the device, and how this can affect the review.” He says the goal of such collaboration is to ensure the safety and effectiveness of a medical product that gets to the consumer.”

Coburn tells viewers that what he is presenting is “the three Rs of 3D printing: regulation, research, and resource.”