Bacteria Virus Model

thingiverse

This is a model of a bacteria cell and a virus called a bacteriophage that infects the cell. This model was made as a project for my biotechnology teacher as a demonstration of how the bacteriophage comes into contact with a bacteria cell and infects it. The model contains a hollow bisection of a cell and a proportionally sized bacteriophage. There is an infection site on the bacteria cell model so that the bacteriophage can attach to the cell to insert its genetic material. There is a handle on the bacteria cell to hold for demonstration purposes. The cell comes in several parts for assembly and demonstration. There are 5 separate parts: two caps, two PVC pipe pieces, and the bacteriophage infection site. The two caps are on either end while two PVC pipes make up a large portion of the middle of the cell while the bacteriophage infection site makes up the center of the cell. The use of PVC pipes is to limit the amount of printing material being used. I began designing this model by using a more amorphic design for the cell, but I changed that to a more capsule-shaped design due to the complications that arose. From this design, I had the final shape, but instead of 3D printing an entire cell, I changed the model so that there are now 5 parts that assemble together to form a cell- this saved printing time and material. I later added a handle so demonstrations using the model would be easier. The bacteriophage was designed from several images, with a polyhedral head, a shaft, and 6 legs in the base. It was resized after being designed in order to be more proportional with the bacteria cell.