A College of St. Benedict alumna helped respond to new needs that have arisen from the COVID-19 pandemic with the production of swabs needed for testing.

Swabs are an essential tool needed for testing the virus, and Shelly Peterson and her colleagues determined that it was time to create swabs in a new way, the college's website reported. Like masks, swabs were in short supply, but play a vital role in testing – and therefore diagnosing – COVID-19.

Peterson graduated from the College of St. Benedict 2018 and has a job as a product development engineer at Resolution Medical, where she works in the laser welding department. 

Her efforts were working with Carbon, a 3D printer, to imagine something entirely new: 3D-printed lattice nasopharyngeal swabs. 

“A huge benefit in getting the product to market was the fact that Carbon already had an FDA-approved resin available,” Peterson told the College of st. Benedict, the website reported. “The rush to market was hectic, but we were all working cohesively as a team to get swabs out the door.”

Peterson’s team was able to use this resin, which was the perfect consistency for precise printing, but also created a swab that had just the right amount of flexibility in motion. The overall operation was able to be expedited, thanks to the use of 3D printers that streamline the production process.

Though swabs may seem small, their role in defeating this pandemic cannot be underestimated.

Peterson’s role in the entire operation was similarly invaluable. 

“My direct role in producing the lattice swab was developing the dimensional and functional performance test methods which were used to ensure the swab would meet effectiveness and safety measures,” Peterson said, the website reported. “Using those test methods, I was able to provide feedback to the material scientists and engineers so they could tweak the design through several iterations to achieve ideal performance.”

A woman working in a largely male-dominated field, Peterson is grateful for her ability to make a difference.