Previous VBFF fellow Chad Mirkin (c/o 2008) has developed 3D printers that he and his team are using to print masks that provide a shield from viral droplets that cause COVID-19. The 3D printers Mirkin developed uses a technology called HARP (high-area rapid printing), which enables a record-breaking throughput that can manufacture products on demand and can print an object the size of an adult human in just a couple of hours. Currently, the 3D printer Mirkin developed could print 1,000 plastic face shield masks a day, however, in a few weeks his team is expecting to release another printer that prints 2,000 a day which is equivalent to 200 conventional 3D printers. Press release: https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2019/10/biggest-fastest-3d-printer-is-future-of-manufacturing/ Science article on the technology behind the 3D printer: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6463/360