College of Dentistry Joins Team to Address Critical Supply Shortage
By Mike Huson, Public Relations Coordinator, Ohio State Institute for Materials Research
In a collaborative effort led by Ohio State's Institute for Materials Research (IMR), scientists, engineers and manufacturers worked together during the pandemic to combat the shortage of critical supplies in Ohio. A coalition that included the College of Dentistry joined to deliver 3D-printed nasopharyngeal swabs to The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, which is partnering with the Ohio Department of Health to increase the availability of supplies needed for testing citizens for COVID-19.
"Health systems worldwide have struggled because of the critical shortage of test kit components, including the swabs used to collect samples and the sterile solution needed to transport the swabs," Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said during an address on April 15.
In mid-March, Peter Mohler, PhD, Vice Dean of Research at the College of Medicine told IMR about the critical need for swabs. Before long, Ohio State talent that included engineers, clinicians and staff from the Wexner Medical Center and across the university were working on a solution.
Early into investigating swab manufacturing options, researchers joined a burgeoning academic-industry-government consortium being led by Harvard University, with contributors that include the U.S. Army, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the University of South Florida.
Through the consortium, Ohio State connected with Formlabs, a leading manufacturer of 3D printing systems, and Concordance Healthcare Solutions, one of the six national medical supply distributors working with FEMA on PPE and other national supply needs. As luck would have it, both companies were based in Ohio.
The two firms worked together with Northwell Health, New York's largest healthcare provider, and the University of South Florida to lock down the design and production of the swabs.
With the green light from Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center, row after row of 3D printers kicked on and ran around the clock in the Formlabs facility in Millbury, Ohio. Next, the College of Dentistry carried out the crucial step of repackaging the bulk shipments into individual swabs, then sterilizing each one before sending them on to the medical center for kitting with vials of transport medium. By the end of the initiative, the college had repackaged and sterilized 70,000 swabs. Governor DeWine described the initiative as "Ohioans coming together to solve a problem" and an example of "Ohio ingenuity."