Object Details
- Fauci, Anthony S.
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
- Description
- 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.
- Physician-scientist Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), donated this 3D model of the SARS-CoV-2 virion to the museum. The model was presented by Dr. Fauci on March 2, 2021 during the museum's “Great Americans Program,” in which Fauci received the museum’s signature honor, the Great Americans medal. Fauci, who also served as chief medical advisor to the White House during the COVID-19 pandemic, used this model as an educational tool in his work, explaining the science of the virus and vaccines in briefings to congressional members, journalists, and the public.
- Reference: Collins, Francis. “3D Printing the Novel Coronavirus.” NIH Director’s Blog, May 26, 2020. https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2020/05/26/3d-printing-the-novel-coronavirus/.
- Credit Line
- Transfer from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
- 2020
- object presentation date
- 2021-03-02
- ID Number
- 2021.0013.01
- accession number
- 2021.0013
- catalog number
- 2021.0013.01
- Object Name
- model, virus, SARS-CoV-2
- Measurements
- overall: 5 1/2 in x 5 1/2 in; 13.97 cm x 13.97 cm
- place made
- United States: Montana, Hamilton
- United States: Maryland, Bethesda
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Medicine
- Health & Medicine
- Exhibition
- First Do No Harm
- Exhibition Location
- National Museum of American History
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- COVID-19 (Disease)
- Communicable Diseases
- related event
- COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2023
- Record ID
- nmah_2001515
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng4bde4be5e-3614-5da5-e053-15f76fa06da1
