3D printed model of the SARS-CoV-2 Virion (NIAID)

Fauci, Anthony S. · 2020

3D printed model of the SARS-CoV-2 virion (infectious state of the virus) mounted on a round white plastic base. The model was created at the 3D Print Exchange (3DPX), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, Bethesda, Maryland. It consists of multiple layers of a gypsum plaster-based powder fused with a colored binder; the printed model is infused with epoxy for added strength. The blue surface of the virion model is studded with orange and beige spike proteins. The orange spikes represent the open, active or infectious form, and the beige spikes represent the closed, inactive form of the spike proteins. The digital design file that was used to 3D print this model was developed at 3DPX in collaboration with NIAID’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML), in Hamilton, Montana. The team at RML used electron microscopy to produce 3-D images of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This virus was cultured from one of the first COVID-19 patients in the United States. This data provided the foundation for the finished model.