Department of Radiology
3D Printing
3D Printed Nasopharyngeal Swabs for COVID-19 Testing
USF Health, in partnership with Northwell Health (New York, NY) and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston, MA) have developed, bench lab-tested, and clinically tested 3D printable nasopharyngeal swabs that can be used to obtain samples for COVID-19 testing.
The nasopharyngeal swabs were designed using FDA-cleared software and printed on FDA-cleared 3D printers using FDA-cleared surgical grade material that can withstand the high temperature of the sterilization process.
Preliminary results show these swabs are comparable to conventional nasopharyngeal swabs composed of nylon or polyester to obtain enough viral particles to make a reliable diagnosis of COVID-19.The FDA has given clearance for the use of 3D printed swabs that use medical/dental grade materials. Institutions with access to approved printers and material can produce and use these swabs for testing. Only institutions or companies holding a medical device license can legally manufacture and sell 3D printed swabs to others.
USF Health and Northwell Health hold the provisional patent for this technology but will share the print file with institutions around the country who have the FDA-cleared technology and materials to print their own swabs.
Contact Information
If you would like to contact USF Health about the 3D printable nasopharyngeal swabs, please select the most appropriate options:
- To obtain the 3D printable swab files from USF Health, please contact 3DClinicalApplications@usf.edu
- For media requests about the USF Health 3D printable nasopharyngeal swabs, please contact Sarah Worth, Associate Director of Communications: sworth@usf.edu
- If you do not have access to a medical-grade 3D printer but require purchasable nasopharyngeal test swabs, please contact Formlabs: https://formlabs.com/covid-19-response/covid-test-swabs/
- For institutions who are 3D printing nasopharyngeal swabs using the shared USF file and have technical questions or issues, please contact: 3DClinicalApplications@usf.edu