COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment Project2024-07-01T07:27:14-04:00

Indiana CTSI and partners making medical supplies to address COVID-19 shortages

Indiana hospitals and other organizations on the front lines of the war against COVID-19 are under a significant burden and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) is working to do its part to support their efforts. The goal is to help alleviate the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) by developing designs and mobilizing 3D printers for rapid manufacturing at partner universities: Indiana University, Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame. As part of this effort, the Indiana CTSI is also partnering with other universities and the local campuses of Ivy Tech Community College.

The teams are currently focused on optimizing and printing medical face shields and have already started printing PPE for distribution. As production ramps up, the coordinating teams plan to work with hospitals and other organizations to understand their individual needs.

Our teams are currently developing designs for face shields, N95 masks, ventilator parts, test swabs and comfort mask straps.

If your organization would like to get 3D-printed PPE

It is requested that all institutions needing supplies first visit EMResource, the Indiana State Department of Health’s new coordination system, to track COVID-19 supply availability. If an organization needs face shields and is interested in securing a shipment through this coordinated effort, there is a survey to fill out here to outline your current and projected needs.

While the shields will not be sterile, they will be clean, as the only human contact would be from the person removing the piece from the 3D printer. The coordinated effort is expected to be able to produce several thousand face shields each week, spread across the various printing locations.

Get involved in the 3D printing efforts

If your lab or organization would like to become involved in this effort, please send a message to inppe@indianactsi.org.

The organizations currently involved in this collaboration include the following teams, led by the person listed:

Indianapolis IU Health Brian Overshiner
Indianapolis IU School of Medicine Lester Smith
Indianapolis IU School of Medicine Cassandra Jones
Indianapolis IUI Paul Yearling
Indianapolis IUI Greg Hull
Indianapolis Ivy Tech Community College Garrett Schneider
Bloomington Indiana University Christian McKay
Bloomington Indiana University Alexander Gumennik
Bloomington Indiana University Andy Webb
Bloomington Ivy Tech Community College April Bledsoe
Fort Wayne Ivy Tech Community College Richard Washburn
Lafayette Ivy Tech Community College Josh Nelson
Lafayette Purdue University Nathan Hartman
Evansville University of Southern Indiana Art Chlebowski
Evansville Ivy Tech Community College Donna Zimmerman
South Bend University of Notre Dame Matt Leevy
South Bend Ivy Tech Community College James Freygang
Kokomo Ivy Tech Community College Tony Tony
Lawrenceburg Ivy Tech Community College George Batta
Muncie Ivy Tech Community College Jeremy Brown
Sellersburg Ivy Tech Community College David Edward
Terre Haute Ivy Tech Community College Molly Joseph
Valparaiso Ivy Tech Community College Jason Gordon

Get Involved with Indiana CTSI