Pandemic printing: a novel 3D-printed swab for detecting SARS-CoV-2

E Williams; K Bond; N Isles; B Chong; D Johnson; J Druce; T Hoang; SA Ballard; V Hall; S Muhi; KL Buising; S Lim; D Strugnell; M Catton; LB Irving; BP Howden; E Bert; DA Williamson

Journal article

Pandemic printing: a novel 3D-printed swab for detecting SARS-CoV-2

E Williams, K Bond, N Isles, B Chong, D Johnson, J Druce, T Hoang, SA Ballard, V Hall, S Muhi, KL Buising, S Lim, D Strugnell, M Catton, LB Irving, BP Howden, E Bert, DA Williamson

Medical Journal of Australia | WILEY | Published : 2020

DOI: 10.5694/mja2.50726

Abstract

Objectives: To design and evaluate 3D-printed nasal swabs for collection of samples for SARS-CoV-2 testing. Design: An iterative design process was employed. Laboratory evaluation included in vitro assessment of mock nasopharyngeal samples spiked with two different concentrations of gamma-irradiated SARS-CoV-2. A prospective clinical study compared SARS-CoV-2 and human cellular material recovery by 3D-printed swabs and standard nasopharyngeal swabs. Setting, participants: Royal Melbourne Hospital, May 2020. Participants in the clinical evaluation were 50 hospital staff members attending a COVID-19 screening clinic and two inpatients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. Intervention: In the cl..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Douglas Johnson Author

Julian Druce Author

Stephen Muhi Author

Kirsty Buising Author

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Grants

Awarded by University of Melbourne

Funding Acknowledgements

Deborah Williamson is supported by an Investigator Grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (APP1174555). Benjamin Hovvden is supported by an NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship (APP1105905). Katherine Bond is supported by an NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship (GNT1191321). Our work was supported by a grant from the NHMRC Medical Research Future Fund (APP2002317). 3DMEDiTech had no role in the design or conduct of the laboratory or clinical study.