Decontaminate with UVCBlaster

N95 respirators are critical in protecting healthcare workers from exposure to COVID-19. However, limited global supplies of N95s protect only the highest bidders and low income regions of the world are left unprotected. The University of Washington estimates that  400,000 nurses in the US could contract COVID-19 resulting in 6,800-19,000 preventable deaths. To safely combat scarcity and prevent infection, N95s must be decontaminated before reuse. Decontamination is a priority for many countries but low-cost, effective equipment is not available. To decontaminate N95 Masks and other equipment, we propose the global distribution of our low-cost, open source UVC decontamination system (UVC Blaster Mini). Safe, effective, rapid decontamination is possible with UVC light which inactivates SARS-CoV 2, Ebola and other pathogens. The UVC Blaster Mini will target health disparities by protecting health workers in low income regions who are at greatest risk of infection and death.

The US Department of Health and Human services estimates that 3.5 Billion N95 respirators are needed in the US alone to fight an extended pandemic. Only 1% of the estimated 3.5 Billion will be available due to global supply chain limitations. The shortage of essential PPE has created a market for underperforming counterfeit respirators and sparked price gouging for approved N95 respirators (prices up 10X in some cases). N95 masks are now prohibitively expensive for financially limited hospitals in rural settings which comprise 47% of the US hospitals. Large scale government funded solutions for N95 Respirator decontamination have been erected near major cities. However, these solutions do not adequately address the needs of small hospitals.  PPE shortages put nurses at an increased risk of contracting COVID-19. The American Nursing Association found that 79% of 14,000 nurses surveyed do not have access to proper N95 masks. As a result of this increased risk, University of Washington's Center for Health Workforce Studies predicts there to be 400,000 cases of COVID-19 in nurses resulting in 6,800 to 19,000 deaths. 

The UVC Blaster Mini is a point-of-care decontamination device built for space efficiency (8ft^2 benchtop space), minimal maintenance, minimal training, minimal additional PPE, minimal purchasing and shipping costs. While designed specifically for decontaminating N95 respirators, the UVC Blaster can decontaminate many other critical objects in the healthcare facilities. The UVC Blaster Mini utilizes two low pressure UVC bulbs with an optimized surface coating to decontaminate all sides of an object in the chamber. These UVC bulbs produce germicidal wavelengths centered around 254nm which has an antimicrobial efficacy on N95 respirators of at least 99.9% for Influenza A (H1N1), Avian influenza A virus (H5N1), MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, and others according to the Centers for Disease and Control. With proper controls, exposure to UVCnot damage electronics,  preserves respirator function, lack chemical residue, is safe for the device user, is low-cost, and has high throughput. Low cost dose monitoring ensures consistent performance on every batch. N95 respirator stockpiles can be extended 3-5X. Our proposed solution is novel because it is the first low-cost hospital grade point-of-care device to provide reliable N95 decontamination with minimal training and infrastructure requirements. 

Our target population is frontline health workers in small to medium sized hospitals anywhere in the world. Aided by a leading emergency physician, we are working with the nonprofit organization Collaborative Education of Maine to understand the needs of these frontline health workers and healthcare providers. With Collaborative Education of Maine we have been conducting tests in simulated clinical settings to optimize the design, calibration and protocols for underserved communities across New England before further expand Our findings have been incorporated into early versions of UVC Blaster Mini which can be scaled for immediate use globally. The UVC Blaster Mini was designed to satisfy the needs of a small healthcare provider with a maximum throughput of ~700 safely decontaminated N95 respirators per day. According to the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease this throughput would cover the daily respirator needs of a small hospital including ICU patients, general patients, outpatient health workers, and emergency service personnel. The low-cost of the UVC Blaster Mini would be offset in a matter of days by partially reducing the need to buy new masks sold at a premium.

The problem of limited N95 respirators is fundamental to the COVID-19 pandemic. Without proper PPE, healthcare workers risk their lives while serving their communities. We are focused on providing solutions tested locally that scale globally to ensure safe and effective rapid decontamination of N95 respirators and other essential PPE. We aim to address health disparities in underserved communities by dramatically extending the availability of N95 respirators and other critical PPE by safe decontamination for reuse. The tools that we develop will be essential in supporting and protecting health care workers responding to future pandemics and other health security threats.

From the beginning our target market has been low income underserved hospitals. As a result, we have designed a solution with a product-market fit focused on “cost per safely decontaminated mask”. We understand the financial pressures that rural hospitals have been in even before the financial pressures of the pandemic, therefore we incorporated cost of shipping, maintenance, required PPE, required space, and required personnel as design inputs.  Groups like Thor Labs, Mass General Hospital, and UVConcepts have developed UVC decontamination prototypes aimed at other markets. As a result, prototypes from these groups do not completely address the needs of rural hospitals. The UVC Blaster Mini is the first hospital grade UVC decontamination device that completely addresses all needs of small hospitals such as proper UVC dosing, throughput, simplified training, decontamination time, and pricepoint. This device provides safe and effective decontamination for N95 respirators and other critical objects.

Our system is a new application of existing low pressure UVC lamps typically used in hospital settings for decontaminating entire rooms in tandem with existing UVC indicator strips. The UVC lamps are designed to convert their energy into 254nm light as this is a wavelength found to disrupt the backbones of RNA and DNA in pathogens. The indicator strips on the other hand are designed to change color in the presence of 254nm light.  As result UVC turns the indicator strips green and inactivates 99.9% or more of Influenza A (H1N1), Avian influenza A virus (H5N1), MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, and other pathogens as shown by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is important for germicidal effectiveness to control dose as well as maximum the safety factor when dosing a mask. UVC light is a known carcinogen, designs of the UVC Blaster include interlocks to eliminate the possibility of accidentally dosing oneself. Just as there are shortages of personal protective equipment there are shortages of UVC lamps. Our UVC Blaster eliminates the need for specific UVC products as well as limits the required number lamps by increasing the efficient use of each lamp and by using surface coatings. 

UVC light is widely used for germicidal irradiation (or UVGI) in hospitals to cut back on pathogens on surfaces before the next patient arrives. Recently, existing UVC light technology has been repurposed to study how to decontaminate N95 respirators as seen at Nebraska Medicine and the University of Chicago. In both cases the germicidal efficacy of UVC were established. However, to date, no N95 mask specific UVC technologies are widespread in hospitals which address the needs of low income health workers and healthcare providers. The prototypes that have been made, such as at Mass General Hospital and at Thor Labs, lack key attributes needed in low income settings.

Several studies have shown the effectiveness of UVC on inactivating pathogens on N95 respirators. Additionally, given enough funding a study will be conducted to look at the effectiveness of the UVC Blaster Mini both in inactivating pathogens and in operating within a clinical environment. Upon completion of both studies a greater understanding will be achieved as to the impact of the solution on the target population, the frontline health workers and healthcare providers in a small to medium sized hospitals across the world. Local, outcomes in terms of providing hospitals self-reliance with N95 respirators will not be known until extended studies are conducted looking economic burden. Globally, the extent of the impact of this device will be most apparent with the assessment of low-cost. For, example, low-cost for one low-income region of the world is different than another.

Currently we are serving the needs of a simulated clinics in Vermont, Maine and Boston which provided valuable training sites for upwards of ten people. In one year, the UVC Blaster Mini will have gone into production and will have been made available globally. At which point, we will serve one person for every mask or personal object that we decontaminate each day. We therefore could serve upwards of 700 people per UVC Blaster Mini. Given a fleet of 250 UVC Blaster Minis across the globe the first year we could be serving upwards of 175,000 people. In five years we could be serving upwards of 1,000,000 people by the same logic. The meaningful impact would be measured in lives saved given a reduction of deadly pathogen transmission in low income regions of the world. 

Our goal is to save lives. All too often pathogens are spread from person to person by cell phones, personal electronics, contaminated PPE and so on. If we can provide a solution to cut back transmission then we reduce death rates of frontline health workers which is extremely high during the pandemic but present even without a pandemic.

Our mission is to make a wide spread impact made possible by low cost yet hospital grade equipment. However, low-cost is very different depending on what part of the world the equipment is made and where it is sold. To maximize the impact low-cost manufacturing needs to be enabled globally. Additionally, confidence in the UVC Blaster Mini is gained through third party studies which assess efficacy in germicidal effectiveness and ease of use in a hospital. A source of funds will be needed to hire third parties to perform the necessary studies. 

We plan on overcoming cost of manufacturing by further simplifying the design and making a design that is possible in any part of the world. Funding for third party testing can be made possible by additional grant writing and partnerships with university labs.

Aided by a leading emergency physician, we are working with the Nonprofit Collaborative Education of Maine to understand the needs of frontline health workers and healthcare providers in New England. With Collaborative Education of Maine we have been conducting tests in simulated clinical settings to optimize the design, calibration and protocols for underserved communities. 

5 Part-time staff members

2 Full-time staff members

I contractor

Our solutions are made reliable, durable, light-weight, user friendly, ultra low-cost, highly controllable, and ready for scaling because our expertise lies in rapid low-cost FDA approved mechatronic design. We are highly capable of developing quickly to be responsive to new phases of the pandemic. Included on the team is a co-inventor of numerous assistive low cost robotic systems for reducing the incidence of workplace injury and assisting individuals with limited mobility. Additionally on the team are the co-inventors of low cost force controlled robotic arms. The team also has a software engineer, a sales & marketing director, a public health policy expert, a lab technician, and an investigative researcher. At this time we are bringing on two MBAs to assist in business planning. Through partnership with the Nonprofit Collaborative Education of Maine we are aided by a leading emergency physician. Collaborative Education of Maine conducts tests in simulated clinical settings to optimize the design, calibration and protocols for the UVC Blaster Mini for underserved communities across New England. 

Hospitals in low income settings will need ways to safely stretch the use of genuine N95 respirators in times when respirators are prohibitively expensive or not available. A further refined view of the need for each hospital will be uncovered with discovery interviews. Additionally further analysis of the target market as a whole will be conducted with support of two MBAs joining the team. Key customers will be at research oriented clinicals where third party publications could result with the adoption of the technology. These publications in turn would help inform other hospitals of the technology. UVC Blasters would be made available to hospitals without claims. The hospitals would need to conduct their own calibration and protocols until extensive third party testing could be performed. 

We will sustain our work during the months of June, July and August 2020 through donations. In September continued work for evaluation will be funded by grants. Minimal capital will be required to scale initial manufacturing. Our focus has been to keep overhead and manufacturing costs as low as possible so that we can be effective in low resource environments. 

In our experience, partnerships have accelerated the development of technology to reach a state useful for the general public. We look to partner with groups with access to networks where these devices are needed most. The solve challenge offers support that is uniquely suited for the nature and complexity of bringing UVC Blaster Mini to the global healthcare community.

MIT Sloan Health Systems Initiatives can enable a more indepth integration with clinical research settings that have proven fruitful for design thus far. 

MIT Sloan Institute for Work and Employment Research can define the impact of our technology on the healthcare industry moving forward beyond a pandemic. 

MIT Institute for Medical Engineering can provide connections with key individuals who can help further the design that can withstand changes in the UVC industry marked by LEDs.

We live in a truly global world, the rapid spread of COVID-19 is yet another indicator of this globalization. A purchase made on one side of the world effects the market on the other side. Hoarding of goods on one side of the country effects goods on the other, as seen in the US in grocery stores. To properly respond to a crisis as big as COVID-19 would be to gift life protecting personal protective equipment (PPE) to our neighbors instead of stockpiling. Gifts of life protecting PPE is not possible however because it is not known when or how the next N95 respirators will become available. Until now. If many have the ability to decontaminate masks self-reliance is possible as a more predictable stream of PPE would always be available. Much needed PPE stability and flexibility would be possible when responding to changes in infection rates. In turn, low income hospitals could buffer themselves from volatility of the PPE market and even spark a movement by gifting to a neighbor. In turn the PPE market would be more fluid and capable of supplying the need seen around the world. Decontamination of personal protective equipment would truly catalyze a transformational change in the way we manage PPE for our own needs and as well as our neighbors, in term making us better global citizens. We would use the Elevate Prize to enable better global citizenship when it comes to life protecting PPE.

There is no better indicator of inequality then when life protecting equipment is only available on the open market. As a result, not all will receive the life protecting equipment due to differences in hospital financial status, for example. That is currently the case for N95 respirators, the highest bidder receives the the genuine N95 protection. We would use The People’s Prize to further our solution’s impact by making it readily available. As a result, the protection that a low income hospital would provide its health workers would not be dictated by the open market.

The N95 respirator shortage is upon us now. Manufacturing complexity is so great for N95 respirators that even if the money was available companies would still be slow to respond to market needs of the personal protective equipment. Alternatives to waiting for more N95 manufacturing are needed now especially for low income regions. These alternatives need to be available immediately, in great number with high performance to be disruptive. With the right design, and smart application of existing UVC technology coupled with the proper design object, low cost per safely decontaminated mask. A solution like our UVC Blaster Mini could address our most pressing issue, the shortage of personal protective equipment. The Future Planet Capital Prize would allow us to immediately put our devices in action around the world.