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A “plasma brush” to sterilize packages and PPE
Couple foregoes honeymoon, uses time instead to design and 3D print PPE
Dr. Michael Keidar and his team have several projects based on cold plasma for dry surfaces decontamination and airborne virus decontamination. They also are working to develop a “plasma brush” to decontaminate protective masks, gloves, and other necessary gear so caregivers can reuse them. Dr. Keidar has received a National Science Foundation RAPID grant for this work.
Biomedical engineering PhD candidate Destie Provenzano and her husband, Dr. Yuan James Rao, MD (GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences), had to cancel their honeymoon in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so they determined to use the time instead to help health care workers. They are doing this by developing 3D-printed N95 respirators to supplement the rapidly depleting stocks of these and other PPE (personal protective equipment). They are assisted by Destie’s advisor Dr. Murray Loew and biomedical engineering students Konstantin Mitic and Sofian Obaid.
How Does Twitter Shape the Conversation around Covid-19?
GW Innovation Center coordinates hospital screening and face shields projects
Dr. David Broniatowski has initiated a number of projects to try to understand and combat misinformation around COVID-19. One in particular involves an open online database that he and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland have launched to help fellow researchers study COVID-19. Possible applications include the combating of misinformation, supporting messaging from public health organizations, and tracking information about the ongoing pandemic.
The GW Innovation Center (GWIC) is teaming with Dr. David Lee, Dr. Carl Wick, and the GW Hospital to create semi-automated temperature screening kiosks and way-finding and signage at the hospital’s main entrance to divert staff through revised entrance/exit flow for screening and physical distancing. Biomedical engineering student Konstantin Mitic is coordinating a project between GW’s Corcoran School of the Arts and Design and the GW Department of Emergency Medicine to produce face shields for health care personnel. The Corcoran School is spearheading the project and is printing the face shields in its 3D printing “farm.”
Crowd-sourcing innovation to combat COVID-19
Mapping the spread of discussion and information toward COVID-19 and the public health response
The GW Innovation Center (GWIC) has launched a site to crowd-source projects aimed at responding to COVID-19 and to help match volunteers with appropriate project needs.
Dr. Howie Huang and his GraphLab, together with Dr. David Broniatowski and IDDP (Institute for Data, Democracy, and Politics) researchers, are working to map the prevalence and spread of attitudes towards COVID-19 on online social media platforms. They are examining repositories of social media data related to the epidemic, starting as early as January 2020, to map the spread of discussion, information, and attitudes towards the disease and the public health response to the outbreak. Separately, his team also is working on machine learning algorithms for COVID-19 data analysis.
Biases in COVID-19-related tweets
COVID-19 website for medical personnel
Dr. Aylin Caliskan and three of her PhD students are working with Dr. David Broniatowski on a project showing pro-Russian biases in anti-Chinese tweets about coronavirus spreading panic and fear.
Dr. Lance Hoffman and Dr. Jordan Selzer (GW Medical School) are working with three computer science students, a recent graduate, and medical students to create a user-friendly website that will support physicians and other medical personnel by keeping them updated with the latest literature, best practices, and guidelines as they work to combat the coronavirus.
Effective, low-cost, scalable air filters for SARS-CoV-2 control
Enterprise resilience course and planning for future pandemics
Dr. Danmeng Shuai is collaborating with Dr. Yun Shen (Department of Environmental and Occupational Health) to develop effective, low-cost, and scalable air filters for SARS-CoV-2 control. The air filters are prepared by electro-spinning, and they are targeting virus removal in HVAC systems of buildings and by respirators. The investigators and PhD student Hongchen Shen will test the air filtration performance in the lab and also in a healthcare facility that houses COVID-19 patients.
The GW Environmental and Energy Management Institute (EEMI) is offering an online Enterprise Resilience three-week course (already in-session) that addresses black swan events including pandemics. They will offer another session of the course beginning in June. EEMI also is developing a webinar with Novartis on how corporate response to COVID-19 is informing resilience plans for future pandemics. Dr. Jonathan Deason and Dr. Edward Saltzberg of the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering are leading the projects.
Tool to help hospitals plan for supply shortages
Ms. Kelly Rickard, in collaboration with the pediatric emergency department at Children’s National Medical Center, has developed the “Comparing PPE Conservation Strategies” tool, an Excel-based simulation model intended to help healthcare centers estimate the consumption of various articles of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), based on site-specific information and general conservation strategies during the COVID-19 crisis where PPE shortages occur due to supply chain issues. Ms. Rickard is a doctoral candidate, advised by Dr. Rene van Dorp.