{"id":68429,"date":"2020-08-21T14:59:51","date_gmt":"2020-08-21T18:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=68429"},"modified":"2025-10-17T18:19:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T22:19:54","slug":"reusable-face-masks-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/reusable-face-masks-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Carleton’s Alex Wong Works Toward Reusable Face Masks by Eliminating COVID-19 with Ultraviolet Light Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Carleton's Alex Wong Works Toward Reusable Face Masks by Eliminating COVID-19 with Ultraviolet Light Technology\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Carleton University Biology Prof. Alex Wong is working on a unique research initiative to decontaminate medical face masks exposed to COVID-19 with ultraviolet light technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea was sparked in March when there was a substantial concern over Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the country. Wong was approached by Arkalumen<\/a>, a LED design and manufacturing company, and the Children\u2019s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cArkalumen was interested in developing ultraviolet LED for decontaminations and CHEO was interested in doing UV decontamination of masks . . . It sort of clicked together,\u201d says Wong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Alex
Alex Wong<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The research received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After CHEO did some background research, it found that certain kinds of UV wavelengths would be efficient for decontamination. Arkalumen then manufactured a cabinet with the necessary light sources and brought the equipment to Carleton\u2019s Department of Biology laboratories to test its decontamination capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, Wong and research associate Aaron Hinz have eliminated bacteria from the medical face masks. Now, they are testing viruses, since the later are smaller and have different coatings than bacteria.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWhat kills bacteria isn’t necessarily going to work on the virus,\u201d explains Wong.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit longer than bacteria, but it still works quite well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lab is working with non-human virus samples for safety reasons as these viruses are unable to infect humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t work with live SARS-CoV-2 in the lab,\u201d explains Wong. \u201cWe\u2019re not accredited to work with those kinds of organisms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lab is working with MS2 which is a bacteriophage \u2013 a virus that infects bacteria but is not harmful to humans \u2013 and heat-killed SARS-CoV-2, which caused COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since both viruses are dead, instead of measuring their survival, Wong and Hinz are measuring the integrity of the virus\u2019 genome or RNA, explains Wong.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe assumption is that if we can damage its genome with the UV light, then we\u2019re going to make it inviable and we are going to kill it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In the lab, Hinz takes the non-human virus from the freezer, then the sample is applied in a wearable mask which is later on placed inside the UV cabinet. After 15 to 90 min, the mask gets taken out of the container and Hinz quantifies the residues.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Alex<\/figure>\n\n\n

Reusable Equipment to Increase Protection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The research will lead to a product that allows equipment exposed to COVID-19 to be reused, so doctors in hospitals, remote locations or mobile first respondents can always be protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn organization like the Red Cross, or even the military, that are going out into remote areas, not necessarily setting up a whole hospital, but having limited resources and potentially needing to decontaminate, they could use a unit like that,\u201d said Wong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final product will not be designed for household use since the process itself can be harmful to humans.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe UV light we’re using can be quite harmful to humans if it is exposed to your skin or to your eyes \u2013 it can cause quite a bit of damage,\u201d says Wong.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For the most part, Canada has been able to contain a mass spread of the novel coronavirus.  However, Wong says this product will be convenient if the situation were to spiral out of control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen in various parts of the world that countries that have had a swift and effective early response have had resurgences of COVID when they started relaxing the restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to be prepared if things get worse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, \u201cthere are many parts of the world where COVID isn’t under control. This kind of technology will become useful elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we’re all done with COVID, this technology could still be useful for other diseases and other situations,\u201d says Wong.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Alex<\/figure>\n\n\n

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Carleton University Biology Prof. Alex Wong is working on a unique research initiative to decontaminate medical face masks exposed to COVID-19 with ultraviolet light technology. The idea was sparked in March when there was a substantial concern over Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the country. Wong was approached by Arkalumen, a LED design and manufacturing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":68431,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[13],"cu_story_tag":[1919],"class_list":["post-68429","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-research-discovery","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-science"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/68429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/68429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98574,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/68429\/revisions\/98574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=68429"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=68429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}