24 | MAY 14 • 2020
Spartans collaborate
to create 3D-printed
medical face shields
MSU is helping local health professionals on
the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic
caused by the novel coronavirus by making
3D-printed personal protective equipment.
To address the critical need for donations,
medical face shields are being jointly
produced with colleges across MSU’
s
campus, including Osteopathic Medicine,
Engineering, Natural Science, Agriculture
and Natural Resources, and Arts and Letters.
While MSU departments and labs already
were donating existing supplies, one faculty
member wondered whether new protective
equipment could be created from scratch.
“This all stems from
the Office of
Environmental
Health and
Safety effort to
bring together
any and all PPE
supplies that were
unused in our labs to
help local hospitals,” says
Nathan Tykocki, assistant professor of
pharmacology and toxicology in the
College of Osteopathic Medicine.
With access to a 3D printer and time at
home instead of at his lab, Tykocki was
inspired to act. After searching the
3D-printing community online, Tykocki
discovered a group in the Czech Republic
that made a medical face shield validated
by its government. The group’
s design has
been shared globally online.
“I just started emailing,” Tykocki says.
“Brian Smith of EHS put me in contact
with other professors and technicians
from a myriad of different colleges and
departments. I suggested that we should
do these shields. The nice thing is these
shields are reusable — the plastic can be
disinfected without harming it in any
way — so the shields are by no means
a ‘
one and done.’
”
While the frame of the medical shields can
be created with a 3D printer, the devices still
require other components, including the
clear plastic shield itself. Aaron Walworth,
laboratory manager in the School of
Packaging, had just the thing — a laser
cutter to make the clear plastic pieces.
Walworth says he cut 132 shields one
afternoon while others on the team with
laser cutters were purchasing more of the
plastic sheeting used to make the shields.
Brian Wright and John Papapolymerou
of the College of Engineering have
coordinated with Tykocki to use their 3D
printers to create the frames. Tykocki
also heard from the MSU Library, where
someone suggested using the clear plastic
covers for binders as one of the materials.
MSU St. Andrews, a STEM education center
in Midland, also stepped up with a daily
capacity to print about 60 frames a day.
A final and crucial component needed for
medical face shields is the elastic strap. Enter
the Department of Theatre in the College of
Arts and Letters. When Tykocki shared the
need with his wife, Abigail Tykocki, theatre
communications specialist in the college,
she suggested contacting the MSU
Costume Shop.
“We had a ton of elastic, because we buy
stock to keep for whenever we need it,”
says Angie Wendelberger, the costume
shop supervisor. “I had four industrial rolls
of elastic just hanging there that no one
really could use.”
Wendelberger retrieved the elastic from the
costume shop and brought it to the
Tykockis’
home. “I was just glad that I could
help in any way,” she says. “I’
m not scientific,
and I can’
t make face shields with a 3D
printer, but I can provide elastic.”
Tykocki is pleased with the collaboration. He
says everyone involved in the production
hopes to eventually make the shields
available to health care providers statewide.
“This really shows me that collaboration is
not limited at all to research,” says Tykocki.
“It expands to every aspect of the university,
and the willingness of people to work
together to help when it’
s needed. This is
a true example of ‘
Spartans Will.’
” e
Licensure Exam for Registered Nurses.
However, LARA has set up a temporary
license for students preparing to become
registered nurses to allow MSU’
s nursing
students to become available as practicing
registered nurses before taking the exam.
At the end of their program in May, these
graduating nursing students will have
completed 740 contact hours through the
nursing program.
“Nurses are on the front lines of this
pandemic, so it makes sense that the
governor would create this opportunity
for new nursing graduates to enter the
workforce during this time of desperate
need,” says Randolph F. R. Rasch, dean of
the College of Nursing. “We need all the
help we can get to provide the necessary
and increasing amount of care for Michigan
residents, and this is a bold first step by
the governor.” e
GRADUATING MSU HEALTH CARE STUDENTS continued
MSU has one of the largest training programs
for health professionals in the nation.