The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust has responded to the coronavirus crisis with more than $6 million in emergency grants awarded to science, human services and arts and culture nonprofits in Maricopa County.

Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute will receive the Piper Trust’s largest grant, with $2 million going to expand its automatic, rapid diagnostic testing for COVID-19.

The trust said its grant will support testing of critical workforce including health care workers, first responders and essential infrastructure personnel; assembling nose-and-throat swab test kits for health care providers; and manufacturing personal protective equipment such as face shields through 3D printing rapid response services.

“ASU is in a unique position to scale up our testing efforts to support round-the-clock testing and analyze hundreds of samples daily,” said Dr. Joshua LaBaer, director of ASU’s Biodesign Institute, in a statement.

Click here to learn more about the Piper Trust.