Rutgers University’s Resilient, Innovative Year Confronting COVID-19

The last year, which has been unlike any other in Rutgers’ 254-year history, has centered on keeping the Rutgers community safe, providing top-notch health care, developing the first saliva test for the coronavirus and helping society cope with the biggest global public health crisis since the 1918 influenza pandemic.

LLNL providing critical assistance in addressing national swab shortage for COVID-19 testing

To address the nationwide shortage of specialized nasal swabs used for COVID-19 diagnoses, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory engineers formed an ad hoc, rapid response team that tested more than a dozen novel, 3D-printed swab designs from a grassroots coalition of commercial and academic partners. The mechanical tests performed at the Lab provided valuable feedback that improved the designs, enabling them to meet requirements for COVID-19 testing. The Lab’s work on swabs is continuing with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and expanding into other 3D-printed components for COVID-19 test kits.

UCLA Biodesign Fellow Focuses Surgical, Medical and Biomedical Engineering Insights on a Weak Link in COVID-19 Testing: Swabs Shortage

When the COVID-19 outbreak became a pandemic, and the scarcity of testing supplies became a crisis, the leaders of UCLA Biodesign saw the experience and background of Gabriel Oland, MD, as the ideal combination to help reinforce one link in the strained supply chain: the nasopharyngeal swabs used to collect patient specimens for testing.