Jemma Redmond, a white woman with dirty blonde hair tied back, speaks to someone off screen.
“I have always been dabbling with stuff, I used to get into a lot of trouble for breaking things, taking things apart. I've always had an interest in seeing things work.”
– Jemma Redmond
Jemma Redmond was an intersex person who innovated 3D printing technology and was poised to change the medical world with her work. Driven by the desire to get this technology into as many hands as possible, she worked to make 3D printers cheaper and more universally useful. Born on March 16, 1978, in Tallaght, Ireland, Jemma Redmond was intersex, and because of this was infertile; that would highly motivate her work around 3D printing organs.
From a young age, Redmond was technically minded. She remembered saying:
“I have always been dabbling with stuff, I used to get into a lot of trouble for breaking things, taking things apart. I've always had an interest in seeing things work.”
Despite what may be seen as a natural inclination towards this work, she and her work were dismissed in their early stages for many reasons.
The most obvious was that she was a woman, and because of this was seen as less capable in STEM fields by many of those in power. She also had very grand ideas as to what was possible with 3D printing technology, something that was mocked by the people around her. In one situation, when she communicated her desire to build a 3D printer that could make more complicated parts of the body, like hands, she was largely dismissed. She would respond to that underestimation by 3D printing a middle finger for her thesis project.
Jemma was passionate about the possibilities of 3D printing once people let go of perceived limitations. Speaking of DIY bioprinting experts she said:
“One of the best ideas I have seen is from artists/designers and biohackers. I think once these machines are more widely accessible these types of individuals will approach problems in different ways to scientists. Perhaps with more uninhibited innovation, as they don’t always know what conventional methods they are able to achieve.”
She, herself, was well used to being disconnected from the traditional scientific pathways, experimenting with 3D bioprinting by taking apart and remaking regular 3D printers in her kitchen. It was through this work that she was eventually able to make her own 3D bioprinter named Revolution.
She would continue to revolutionize the industry by starting her own company and placing herself firmly at the head of it. In an industry that favours men she was adamant about supporting women in the field, and her company Ourobotics was a leader in its field. Her explicit intent was to make bioprinters affordable, and capable of making full organs.
She was very clear that a part of her motivation was to one day print a uterus for herself after having discovered that she was infertile. Her partner Kay Cairn discussed this when they wrote Jemma's obituary:
“Jem figured out she was infertile, which lead to her discovering she was intersex. She’d always wanted kids… a ‘mini-me.’ It was a crushing realization for her, along with finding out about her hidden medical history, and dealing with constant anxiety from street harassment as someone visibly different[...] She was innovating cheaper methods of 3D printing to make it accessible to more people. She’d also dreams of setting about the creation of 3D printed uteri, to help other intersex people carry children.”
She believed not only in people being able to print new organs but also in changing the way the organs were engineered, saying:
“Why make a copy of the same thing, the same organ, when you can literally, make it better? It could be stronger, more efficient, longer-lasting—perhaps with embedded sensors to give you an idea of what's going on inside your body. It sounds like science fiction—but it is certainly do-able.”
What she was working on before her death was a mix of far-reaching ambition and unwavering practicality. She dreamed of making bioprinting cheaper and more accessible in order to make healthcare easier and faster, reduce animal testing, and open her work to be improved by people after.
Dying at the young age of 38, she was not able to complete every goal she set her eyes on, but she was able to make huge strides in 3D printing capabilities.
The facts are though that she would have been able to do more of this work if she had not been so consistently blocked by other people outside of and within her field, both because she was intersex and because she was a woman.
She would discuss harassment she faced when in public spaces because of being visibly different, harassment that would sometimes become physical. While it is commendable that she was able to do so much of her work in isolation, it should never have been necessary. It is hard to imagine what she may have accomplished if she was actually regularly given the support and respect she deserved.
[Disclaimer: some of the sources may contain triggering material]
Anderson Goehrke, S. (2016, August 31). Entrepreneur in Memoriam: Sudden Loss of Ouro_botics CEO Jemma Redmond Hits Bioprinting Community. 3DPrint.com. Retrieved from https://3dprint.com/147800/jemma-redmond-in-memoriam/
Belton, P. (2016, September 20). Jemma Redmond obituary. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/20/jemma-redmond-obituary
Chediac, J. (2017, March 9). Amazing Women Scientists We Never Knew. Global Research. Retrieved from https://www.globalresearch.ca/amazing-women-scientists-we-never-knew/5579672
Cocking, S. (2015, September 1). Bioprinting Human Body Parts. Jemma Redmond, Ouro_botics, We Are Already Touching The Future. Irish Tech News. Retrieved from https://irishtechnews.ie/bioprinting-human-body-parts-jemma-redmond-ouro_botics-we-are-already-touching-the-future/
Clappison, J. (2016, August 25). An Interview with Jemma Redmond, Founder of Ourobotics. 3D Printing Industry. Retrieved from https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/interview-jemma-redmond-founder-ourobotics-94722/
DeBurca Butler, J. (2017, November 6). The dream of printing a better human. Independent.ie. Retrieved from https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/the-dream-of-printing-a-better-human-36288394.html
Hunt, G. (2016, August 17). ‘Inspirational’ Ourobotics founder Jemma Redmond dies unexpectedly. Silicon Republic. Retrieved from https://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/ourobotics-jemma-redmond
Hunt, G. (2016, February 1). Irish start-up Ourobotics takes top European award. Silicon Republic. Retrieved from https://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/ourobotics-svod-google
Redmond, J. AngelList Profile. Retrieved from https://angel.co/jemmaredmond-gmail-com
Liederbach, K. (2015, September 18). Female Founder Spotlight: Jemma Redmond of Ouro_botics. Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/sosv-accelerator-vc/female-founder-spotlight-jemma-redmond-of-ouro-botics-7ce78adbd1d1
Mulcahy, S. (2016, August 18). Shock after promising Irish technology innovator passes away suddenly. Evoke. Retrieved from https://evoke.ie/2016/08/18/news/irish-news/shock-after-promising-irish-technology-innovator-passes-away-suddenly
Ourobotics CEO Jemma Redmond Dies Unexpectedly. (2016, August 17). 3D Printing Media Network. Retrieved from https://www.3dprintingmedia.network/ourobotics-ceo-jemma-redmond-reportedly-dies-unexpectedly/
Remembrance night for Jemma Redmond. (2015, October 29). The Intersex Day Project. Retrieved from https://intersexday.org/en/remembrance-night-jemma-redmond/
Sher, D. (2015, December 10). Jemma Redmond's Ourobotics Low-cost 3D Bioprinter Does 10 Materials And More. 3D Printing Industry. Retrieved from https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/jemma-redmonds-ourobotics-low-cost-3d-bioprinter-does-10-materials-and-more-63237/
Weinstock, M. (2016, December 28). Gone in 2016: 10 Notable Women in Science and Technology. Scientific American. Retrieved from https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/gone-in-2016-10-notable-women-in-science-and-technology/
Woods, K. (2016, August 18). The head of Irish biotech company Ourobotics has died unexpectedly. Fora. Retrieved from https://fora.ie/jemma-redmond-ourobotics-2934613-Aug2016/