Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Murray Loew (BME) is working with BME grad students Sofian Obaid, Konstantin Mitic, and Destie Provenzano, and with Dr. James Rao (GW Radiation Oncology) to make N95-equivalent respirators using 3D printers. Destie and James have been developing the filter material (using furnace-filter fabric) and testing the designs at the hospital, and Sofian and Konstantin have been building the prototypes for testing. Dr. Loew has been helping with design specifications and sizing. Dr. Loew reports separately that a number of BME labs in the SEH have donated their limited supplies of masks and other personal protective equipment to the GW Hospital. Sofian collected and delivered them.
The manuscript for the design of the 3D printed N95 masks can be found at this website: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202003.0444/v1.