Sterilization News and Research

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New silicone rubber face mask can be easily sterilized and worn many times

Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital have designed a new face mask that they believe could stop viral particles as effectively as N95 masks.

9 Jul 2020

Brigham experts develop reusable N95 mask alternative

With N95 masks in short supply, a team of bioengineers and clinical experts from Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been developing a new, sustainable solution for health care workers to provide protection during the pandemic.

8 Jul 2020

Silk useful as face mask and PPE in COVID-19

As many people are resorting to face coverings improvised from common fabrics, researchers from the University of Cincinnati looked to determine what fabrics were the most effective. The team examined the hydrophobicity of fabrics (silk, cotton, polyester), as measured by their resistance to the penetration of small and aerosolized water droplets, an important transmission avenue for the virus causing COVID-19.

30 Jun 2020

New approach to address the shortage of personal protective equipment

Due to the rapid spread of COVID-19, there is an increasing shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) crucial to protecting health care workers from infection.

25 Jun 2020

Hospitals, manufacturers team up with Sandia to increase availability of respirator masks

Sandia National Laboratories is teaming with local hospitals and medical device manufacturers to increase the availability of respirator masks for health care workers.

22 Jun 2020

Cannabis plant may harbor SARS-CoV-2 for at least a week

Researchers at the Medicinal Genomics Corporation have warned that cannabis flowers exposed to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may harbor the virus for at least seven days.

14 Jun 2020

Deep UV LED inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 - fast and effective

The ongoing pandemic has aroused considerable effort to find methods to prevent and control the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19 disease. Rapid inactivation devices would be of great help in this area, to prevent viral transmission through aerosols and contact with infected surfaces.

9 Jun 2020

Irradiation with UV light kills SARS-CoV-2

Researchers in Italy have found that it is possible to completely inactivate severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) using short-wavelength UV (UV-C) irradiation.

8 Jun 2020

ASPS provides comprehensive playbook with enhanced patient and staff safety protocols

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons - the world's largest plastic surgery organization - leads the specialty's medical professionals in navigating their practices' recovery plans.

1 Jun 2020

Researchers to explore the idea of using ultraviolet light to kill novel coronavirus

The idea of UV sterilization is not a new one, but little or no scientific data about its potency against COVID-19 have been collected, until now.

27 May 2020

USF scientists to establish novel technology that sterilize N95 respiratory masks

An interdisciplinary team of scientists from the University of South Florida has advanced efforts to establish a novel technology that can rapidly sterilize and electrostatically recharge N95 respiratory masks to restore their original filtration efficiency.

27 May 2020

Researchers collaboratively evaluate mask effectiveness to prevent coronavirus pandemic

In the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, masks were in such short supply they were nearly impossible to find. As a result, people began creating substitute masks out of anything possible - scarves, repurposed old T-shirts, even vacuum bags.

21 May 2020

LLNL engineers address shortage of nasopharyngeal swabs for COVID-19

In this era of COVID-19, tracking the disease adequately enough to allow state and local officials to lift shelter-in-place orders and return to a semblance of normalcy in the absence of a vaccine will require widespread testing, according to medical experts.

21 May 2020

Biocompatible adhesive withstands high heat input

The epoxy resin-based Vitralit® 1605 is unique due to its high glass transition temperature and is therefore versatile for applications with high heat input.

19 May 2020

Rice engineer receives NSF grant to study effect of varying temperatures on coronavirus

Daniel Preston, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Rice's Brown School of Engineering, has received a National Science Foundation Rapid Response Research grant to study the effect of varying temperatures on the lifetime of the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

14 May 2020

'Bug Zapper' decontaminates N95 masks with UV-C light

Right around the time in mid-March when Lehigh University moved to remote learning and researchers began to shut down on-campus labs, Nelson Tansu, the Daniel E. '39 and Patricia M. Smith Endowed Chair Professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering, received an email from Dr. Christopher Roscher, an anesthesiologist at St. Luke's University Health Network.

11 May 2020

Research reinforces the idea of embracing nonantibiotic approaches to treat bacterial infections

As interest in the application of plasma medicine -- the use of low-temperature plasma created by an electrical discharge to address medical problems -- continues to grow, so does the need for research advancements proving its capabilities and potential impacts on the health care industry.

9 May 2020

Researchers retrofit diving snorkel mask to make reusable PPE

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in April 2020 reports an innovative adaptation of a standard snorkel mask with a few custom-built parts and a filter, for use by hospital personnel as a reusable protective mask.

30 Apr 2020

Trump says N95 masks can be sterilized for reuse. Only in a pinch, experts warn.

As COVID-19 cases continue to climb, front-line health care workers are decrying unsafe working conditions — in particular, describing inadequate access to personal protective equipment, or PPE.

29 Apr 2020

Novel disinfection process could extend usage of N95 masks during shortage

Amid shortages of personal protective equipment due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a St. Louis health care system has implemented a process to disinfect disposable N95 respirator masks that allows health care workers to reuse their own mask for up to 20 cycles.

28 Apr 2020