Brain lab becomes 3D-printing factory for healthcare worker face shields

With most usual research activities suspended due to quarantine, some Columbia researchers have stepped up to shift their focus to COVID solutions. The Columbia Researchers Against COVID-19 (CRAC) is organizing lab resources and researchers with newfound time on their hands and desire to help fight the virus. One CRAC project involves brain researchers who transformed their brain behavior lab into a factory, churning out 3D-printed face shields for frontline healthcare workers.

Hospitals are rapidly running out of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face shields for their workers. Face shields are especially useful in both blocking contaminated particles from the face and prolonging the usage of the underlying cloth face masks that hospital workers are also in short supply of. To address this critical shortage, researchers at the Zuckerman Institute took just 48 hours to transform a lab studying the brain into a 3D-printing factory for face shield parts. The lab now spends up to 12 hours per day printing parts, allowing for regular deliveries of PPE face shields to healthcare workers in New York. Learn more.