Mosquitoes' Bloodsucking Tubes Could Enable High-Definition 3D Printing

In science, progress often comes from unexpected places. Sometimes it arrives through billion-dollar instruments or massive computational models. Other times, it shows up in the anatomy of a creature most people spend their lives trying to avoid.

In January 2026, researchers from McGill University and Drexel University published a paper in Science Advances describing a discovery that feels almost poetic in its irony. The feeding tube of a female mosquito — the same structure responsible for one of humanity’s most universally despised sensations — may enable a new generation of ultra-high-resolution 3D printing.

The mosquito proboscis is a microscopic, needle-like structure evolved over more than 100 million years to do one job extremely well: pierce skin with minimal force and deliver fluid with extraordinary precision. The research team realized that these same properties might solve a long-standing problem in bioprinting and micro-fabrication, where producing extremely fine structures remains expensive, fragile, and waste-intensive.

Modern high-resolution 3D bioprinting relies on glass dispense tips that are heated and drawn into narrow points. While effective, these tips are fragile, costly, and often discarded after limited use. In the United States alone, billions of such tips are used every year. By comparison, the researchers demonstrated that proboscides from deceased mosquitoes can be repurposed at a fraction of the cost, while offering superior performance.

Under a microscope, the team carefully extracted the proboscis and attached it to a standard dispenser using a small amount of resin. They then integrated the biological tip into a custom 3D-printing setup and began testing its mechanical strength, pressure tolerance, and printing resolution. What followed was remarkable.

Using the mosquito proboscis as a printing nozzle, the researchers were able to extrude lines thinner than a human hair, achieving layer thicknesses as small as 18 micrometers. They printed complex microscopic structures, including honeycomb lattices and maple leaf patterns, with exceptional fidelity between layers. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed stable architectures that would be difficult, expensive, or impossible to produce using conventional tools.

The implications go well beyond printing shapes for demonstration. When tested with bioinks, the proboscis successfully printed dense structures containing red blood cells, suggesting real potential for fabricating tissue scaffolds used in drug testing and regenerative medicine. In another experiment, the tip pierced pig skin to deposit hydrogel, mimicking targeted drug delivery in living tissue.

What makes this discovery especially compelling is that the mosquito proboscis solves multiple engineering challenges simultaneously. Its natural elasticity prevents damage to delicate substrates. Its narrow internal diameter limits extrusion force, acting as a built-in safeguard against leaks or breakage. And because it is biodegradable, it aligns with growing efforts to reduce electronic and laboratory waste.

The researchers refer to this approach as “3D necroprinting,” a term that captures both the novelty and the philosophical shift behind the work. Instead of designing increasingly complex synthetic tools, the team looked to biology as a source of optimized micro-engineering solutions. Nature, it turns out, has already solved many of the problems engineers continue to struggle with.

The project itself emerged from an unlikely convergence of expertise. What began as research into mosquito behavior and bite prevention evolved into a conversation about structure, mechanics, and flow. That conversation ultimately bridged biology, mechanical engineering, and biomedical manufacturing — a reminder that many breakthroughs happen not within disciplines, but between them.

Looking ahead, the team suggests that other biological structures — from plant xylem vessels to insect appendages — could serve as future candidates for micro-dispensing applications. Further work will explore durability under extreme conditions and the influence of surface roughness on fluid dynamics. But even at this early stage, the message is clear: innovation does not always require building something new from scratch. Sometimes it means seeing the familiar in a completely different way.

It is difficult to imagine a more fitting example of scientific redemption. A structure once known only for spreading disease and discomfort may now help advance regenerative medicine, cancer research, and precision drug delivery. In the process, it challenges our assumptions about where useful technology comes from — and who, or what, we should be paying attention to.

The full peer-reviewed paper, published in Science Advances in January 2026, can be found here:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw9953