Bridging the gap between clinicians and engineers
McGovern Graduate Fellow MJ Antonini runs a project to mass-produce face shields for distribution to local hospitals.
“Two weeks ago I joined the Greater Boston Pandemic Fabrication group (PanFab) which is coordinated by the Harvard MIT Center for Regulatory Science and has close connections with Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
My motivation for joining the PanFab group stemmed from my growing frustration with not being able to help with the current pandemic.
While following the various volunteers’ initiatives that aim to address the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), I felt that my training in medical engineering and medical physics in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology would be useful for interfacing clinicians at the hospital and engineers and hobbyists designing replacement solutions.
PanFab was established to meet urgent demands for medical supplies and equipment arising from the COVID19 pandemic. We have several initiatives ongoing such as 3d-printed nasopharyngeal swabs, face-shield for healthcare workers, and investigation of multiple PPE sterilization methods.
Personally, I focus on the face-shield project and am leading its production scale-up, and dissemination to local hospitals.
If anyone would like to volunteer their skills with us, send an email to panfabteam@gmail.com, we are always looking for new volunteers!”
McGovern Graduate Fellow MJ Antonini works on the improvement of polymer fibers for neural recording and stimulation in the lab of Polina Anikeeva.
