UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted a number of product supply chains around the world. Supermarkets were emptied of basic consumer goods like toilet paper and pasta, while large companies, hospitals, and governments at all levels rushed to secure personal protection equipment (PPE), like medical masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, and face shields. In some hard-hit places, medical workers resorted to covering themselves with trash bags as supplies dwindled.
Seeing this shortage, a group of Penn State researchers and staff organized to find solutions as part of an initiative called Manufacturing and Sterilization for COVID-19, or MASC.
Moriah Szpara, associate professor of biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology; Tim Simpson, professor of mechanical and industrial engineering; and Melissa James, facilities coordinator at Penn State's Eva J. Pell Lab — an Animal Biosafety Level 3 facility — were among the MASC collaborators. The three are interviewed about the effort in a new episode of "The Symbiotic Podcast."