Business Courier: UC part of nearly $2M CDC grant to develop next generation of health care PPE

“The present challenges in the PPE arena require innovative solutions,” Grinshpun said. “Here at UC, we have developed promising ideas that will serve as the foundation for a new generation of PPE, particularly novel respiratory protective devices. The newly awarded effort will greatly benefit from the multimillion-dollar state-of-the-art respiratory protection research facility that we have built in our laboratories over the years.”

Grinshpun said this laboratory facility will be used to test various materials and PPE configurations on both mannequins and human subjects.

Mannequins are used because human subjects cannot be exposed to harmful aerosols for ethical reasons. Plus, every human subject has their own individual breathing pattern, making it difficult to standardize any protocol for evaluating the efficiency of respirators.

“In contrast, mannequins can be exposed to harmful aerosol particles, including live viruses, bacteria,” Grinshpun said. “The use of breathing simulators (which can replicate any breathing pattern) as well as coughing and sneezing generators developed by our team, will help us standardize the study’s protocols and procedures.” 

Read the entire story here. Subscription may be needed to access link.