For the 3D printing assignment, Archit and I decided to make models of the Tau protein which is notoriously known for being at the center of Alzheimer’s pathology. We decided to make both prints using the fused deposition modeling (FDM) method of 3D printing as FDM is cheaper and the protein we selected did not have a lot of detailed domains.
We decided to do the Tau protein after being inspired by some of our classmates 3D printing brains. My mind immediately starting thinking about pathologies that affect the brain as I have been wired to do at times during medical school. With Alzheimer’s being such an active area of research, we decided to bring to life the protein at the center of it all. Tau’s primary role is to bind and stabilize microtubules. When the protein is not able to do this anymore, the microtubules destabilize and the dysfunctional tau proteins begin binding to one another. These aggregates come to be known as neurofibrillary tangles and are a very specific finding of Alzheimer’s disease on pathology
Now Tau is a small protein that consists of over 700 single peptides. However, for our project and analysis, we focused specifically on residues 267 to 312. This portion of the protein is most important for Tau’s ability to bind to microtubules (Kadavath et al., 2015). Moreover, this sequence was found recently to be a potential target for therapeutic antibodies to act on pre-tangle Tau proteins (Islam et al., 2025).
The first step of the process was to find the protein segment in the Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank. Tau protein has the PDB code 2mz7. We downloaded the .pdb file, then rendered it in PyMol.
Ribbon model of tau protein residues binding to microtubule (PDB 2MZ7).
The next step was to change the display settings to create a space-filled protein model which resulted in the following model:
Space-fill model of the protein. This creates a larger 3D structure for the protein.
We then exported this as an .stl file and pulled it up on Bambu Studio
Screen capture of sliced file for the protein.
We scaled the .stl file by a factor of 2 in order to increase the size of the print. The first FDM print then took 2 hours and 37 minutes to complete. After the print was done, we removed the support with our hands and then sanded some of the pointy parts of the print down. For the second print, we followed the same steps outlined above but slightly changed the print orientation. We did this to see if the supports would be easier or harder to remove and if the final print would have more or less pointier finishes compared to the first one. This print took the same amount of time as the first one and we followed the same post-processing steps. There was not a significant difference between the final product of the two prints but the second print was slightly easier to remove and was a little less pointier/rougher than the first print.
FDM print in progress. It took roughly two and a half hours to complete.
The first FDM print had hard-to-remove supports, leaving rough edges that needed to be sanded; we hypothesized that changing the print orientation slightl would allow for better auto-support positioning, and consequently less roughness in a second FDM print.
FDM print with support. The two FDM prints were oriented slightly differently for the purpose of determining whether it would be easier to remove the support and have less roughness for the second one.
Sanding the rough edges of the FDM prints before painting
Once both prints were post-processed in a similar fashion, we went outside and applied our first coat of grape colored spray paint. We let it dry for about 15 minutes and then went and applied a second coat. Once the second coat had dried, we went back out and applied a matte clear finish to both proteins.
Spray painting the proteins with grape purple color.
Dried matte FDM prints.
This was my first time playing around with 3D printing and overall it was a very fun and educative experience. I liked playing around with the orientation and supports and seeing the final outcomes of each print. While they were mostly the same, some differences could be appreciated between the two and is something to keep in mind if you are printing something for a specific purpose where certain properties such as how smooth the finish is would matter. All in all fun experience recreating the Tau protein.
Finally, here is a picture of the cleaned up workspace after we finished:
Below is the cost analysis/breakdown for our project:
| Cost Type | Cost | Price | Source | Quantity | Total |
| Materials | PLA filament | $19.99 / kg | Bambu Lab | 2.12 oz | $1.20 |
| Clear Resin V4 | $149.99/L | formlabs | 62.36 mL | $9.35 | |
| Rust-Oleum Spray Paint (Grape Gloss) | $5.98 | Home Depot | 6.60 g (Based on a rate of 0.33 g/sec) | $0.12 | |
| Rust-Oleum Spray paint (Matte Clear) | $5.98 | Home Depot | 1.65 g (Based on a rate of 0.33 g/sec) | $0.03 | |
| Labor | Prototyping Engineer | $36 / hr | ZipRecruiter | 6 hours | $216 |
| Overhead | Bambu 3D printer (rental price) | $19/day | Fat Llama | 1 day | $19 |
| Facility Time | $85/day | The Ion | 1 day | $85 | |
| Post-processing tool (Sandpaper) | $12.68/20 pcs of 9×11 320 grit paper | Amazon | ⅛ sheet | $0.08 | |
| Post-processing tool (Tweezers) | $5.47 | Amazon | 1 set | $5.47 | |
| Design | Engineering and Development | $25.75/hr | ZipRecruiter | 1 hour | $25.75 |
| TOTAL COST | $398.00 |
References
PDB: https://www.rcsb.org/structure/2mz7
Bremmer HJ, van Engelen JGM. Paint Products Fact Sheet: To assess the risks for the consumer: Updated version for ConsExpo 4 [Internet]. Bilthoven (NL): National Institute for Public Health and the Environment; 2006. 3, Spray Painting. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK563050/
Islam, T., Hill, E., Abrahamson, E.E. et al. Phospho-tau serine-262 and serine-356 as biomarkers of pre-tangle soluble tau assemblies in Alzheimer’s disease. Nat Med (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03400-0
Kadavath, H., Jaremko, M., Jaremko, Ł., Biernat, J., Mandelkow, E., & Zweckstetter, M. (2015). Folding of the Tau Protein on Microtubules. Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), 54(35), 10347–10351. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201501714
