Wistar Institute Will use 3D-Printed Lung Models Made by Allevi for Coronavirus Research

Pennovation-based life sciences technology company Allevi is partnering with University City-based biomedical research center The Wistar Institute to use 3D printing to learn about COVID-19.

COVID-19 is an acute respiratory illness and has taken more than 500,000 lives worldwide. Allevi’s patented 3D bioprinting platform will create 3D models of lungs for Wistar scientists to use to study the virus behind COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, in order to “investigate the mechanisms deployed by this pathogen to infect humans and identify potential ways in which it may be blocked,” according to a press release.

Earlier this month, Wistar announced that it had seen “positive results” from its preclinical testing of a COVID-19 DNA vaccine it developed with Plymouth Meeting’s Inovio Pharmaceuticals.

Allevi VP of Life Sciences Taciana Pereira, who is also co-principal investigator in this plan, is optimistic about the project’s efforts to assist COVID-19 research.

“We are accompanying the spectacular work from our peers in the scientific community and have identified tremendous potential for our platform to enable COVID-19 research in a much faster, yet physiologically relevant manner,” she said in a statement. “We believe that scientists from all areas need to unite now to solve this crisis.”

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