HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded USF Health, Northwell Health, Tampa General Hospital and Formlabs with the Patents for Humanity prize.
They received the award for creating the 3D nasal swabs used to help test for the coronavirus.
“We were able to provide the tool to hold us fight back,” said Dr. Summer Decker.
Dr. Decker is a professor and the director of 3D Clinical Applications Department of Radiology at USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. She and her colleagues created the 3D swabs back in 2020.
“We were short all of these PPEs, the masks, gloves, gowns, and test kits,” she said.
The shortage was worldwide. At the time, it was the biggest hurdle when it came to dealing with the virus.
We couldn’t get an accurate read of the impact without testing kits to test people with. There weren’t even enough tests for medical staff.
“You couldn’t have a healthcare worker with covid going and working with other patients,” Dr. Decker said. “It’s one of the reasons why a lot of hospitals had to shut. “
She and her colleagues used 3D printers to make 3D swabs.
The printers were already being used to make models of body parts (like hearts, hands, and skulls) for surgeons to practice on.
The materials used to make the swabs is already cleared by the FDA, which made it easier to get out to the public.
They also cleaned the swabs onsite. She said the hospitals’ infectious disease specialists sterilized the swabs and packaged them individually.
The other positive part of making the swabs site, they’re cheaper. Dr. Decker said they could make them for 25 cents less compared to the $5 or $8 some companies were charging.
This has also opened the door for other innovative ways to treat and test patients.
“Now, post-COVID, we started to look at how we can do this with other devices,” Dr. Decker said. “How can we do that with other supply chain shortages that you see out there?”
They’re shipped out over 150 million 3D swabs across the world.
