Marc Michel是弗吉尼亚科学技术学院的地质副教授，通常花费他的日子（和一些夜晚）在自然界中研究纳米颗粒以及它们的形成方式。他寻求新的水处理方法和方法，以创造未开发的可持续能源资源。
在新的冠状病毒流行期间，医学诊所使用的数字印刷大约2,000只鼻咽拭子，我们应该说，当2020年开始时，我们不得不在Michel的宾果卡上。Michel之前的3D打印技术的使用通常包括制造定制的反应堆和其他实验室设备。但医疗设备？不。
Yet, in the spirit of Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Michel jumped in full speed.
“I just wanted to be useful and knew that I could add something based on my experience in computer-aided design and 3D printing,” said Michel, who joined the Department of Geosciences in 2012 and serves as head of the nanoscience program in the Academy of Integrated Science, also part of College of Science.
首先,在3月中旬,米歇尔开始在专业工作ject involving numerous Virginia Tech faculty, alumni, and specialists from Carilion Clinic to use 3D printing to retrofit off-the-shelf snorkel masks into full-face PPE masks. The project was aimed at supplying front-line responders with protective head gear, but stalled in the face of a more pressing need: a shortage of nasopharyngeal swabs.
它是Carla Finkielstein的Fralin BioMedical研究所在Roanoke和生物科学系的副教授Carla Finkielstein，以及生物科学系，他需要迈克尔的注意力。
Finkielstein, along with Harald Sontheimer, of the Virginia Tech School of Neuroscience and a leading brain cancer research scientist and professor at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, were, at the time, developing a novel test to analyze for COVID-19 in patient samples supplied by regional health districts.
虽然弗吉尼亚技术检测实验室没有测试患者，但Finkielstein对通常用于测试中使用的拭子不满意。她已经确定了更好的设计并向米歇尔达到了，知道他想帮助。
“这对Covid的分子诊断世界尤为重要，因为标准拭子不符合核酸分离的要求，”Finkielstein说。“Marc设法生产第一个原型，我测试了收集生物样品和核酸分离的疗效。3D印刷拭子的机械性能和临床性能与商业拭子相当。Marc的作品的结果是我们都可以使用的可靠产品，可用于我们的标本系列，并在内部制造和按需制造。“
Michel’s lab uses a particular type of 3D printing known as inverse stereolithography, where a laser light turns thin layers of liquid polymer into a solid plastic. Turns out these are the exact printers used to manufacture two swab designs developed by the University of South Florida in collaboration with New York-based nonprofit Northwell Health and the Massachusetts-based 3D printing company Formlabs Inc.
“我知道我实验室中的3D打印机适合打印USF设计，所以我自愿参加领先者，”米歇尔说，谁也是一个路德和爱丽丝哈密特初级教师。
Michel在临时3D印刷商店开始在他的家庭地下室设置，然后切换到Steger Hall的实验室，这是Fralin Life Sciences学院的一部分。印刷过程不仅仅是复杂的，但米歇尔的所有工作也必须符合适当的联邦医疗和安全标准。
根据Michel，打印过程开始重复数字模型以创建以18×18×18倍行的方形图案排列的324拭子。每个构建需要大约15个小时才能完成，因为拭子被逐层打印，每层厚度只有100微米。然后将完成的部分冲洗在异丙醇中以在表面上除去未固化的树脂，干燥，然后除去。然后，Michel单独检查拭子，因为它们安装在固化架上。然后，拭子在完成聚合的腔室中“固化”30分钟。最后，拭子被分类为塑料袋，灭菌，然后标记。
To meet federal standards, Michel, Finkielstein, and additional teammates worked with Robert Gibson, associate director of business development at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and with Virginia Tech’s Link + License + Launch center. Gibson contacted Christiansburg, Virginia-based SGS Polymer Solutions lab to professionally test the swabs fabricated by Michel. “You’ve got to have third-party tests of these swabs for some external assurance the swab works and won’t hurt anyone,” Gibson said.
拭子通过飞行的颜色。
Others who helped shepherd the swabs to ready-for-use status include Assistant Professor Michael Bortner, of the Department of Chemical Engineering; Professor David Dillard, of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics; and 3D printing expert Christopher Williams, the L.S. Randolph Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, all in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering; Michael Friedlander, executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and Virginia Tech’s vice president for health sciences and technology; and Hal Irvin, the associate vice president for health sciences and technology outreach for Virginia Tech.
Much of the funding to support Michel’s work came from the Virginia Tech Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation’s COVID-19 response funds. All of this work, of course, took place as Michel maintained his daily research and grant writing efforts, converts previously in-person classes to online instruction, and juggles three young children with his spouse, Nieves.
Contingent on FDA approval of a new COVID-19 testing array system by Finkielstein, the testing swabs will be used on hundreds of Virginia Tech students, faculty, and staff once the fall semester kicks into gear and in-person class sessions begin. Regional health clinics also can use the swabs as needed.
“As we are experimentalists, this pandemic has forced us to look at our research differently and has led us to pursue what I think are very exciting directions that use novel approaches,” Michel said. “I definitely see the swab project as an added bonus, since it is a chance to add something significant to collective efforts to stem the damage of this pandemic.”
Virginia Tech
www.vt.edu
Filed Under:Make Parts Fast
