COVID-19 Wall Solutions Initiative Awards

Congratulations to our COVID-19 Wall Solutions award recipients. These successful applications demonstrate the wide range of challenging issues being addressed by UBC researchers and their partners, including innovative tools for early detection and diagnosis of COVID-19, improvements to design of PPE, building design and modification for safe reopening, and impacts on immigration detainees and public health communications.

New Projects

Immigration Detention in the Age of COVID-19: Moving towards Rights Protection

Efrat Arbel, Allard School of Law, UBC
Co-investigator: Molly Joeck, Allard School of Law

A Rapidly Deployable Negative Pressure Enclosure for Aerosol-Generating Medical Procedures

Zac Hudson, Department of Chemistry, UBC
Co-investigators: Kenneth Van Dewark MD FRCPC, Anthony Chahal MD FRCPC, Erin Fukushima MD FRCPC, Robert Gooch MD FRCP, Department of Emergency Medicine, Vancouver General Hospital

Antimicrobial Copper Coating for Reusable Personal Protective Equipment

Jian Liu, School of Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science, UBC Okanagan
Partner: Myant PPE, Toronto, ON

Functionalized Soluble Cellulose for use in Personal Protective Equipment

Parisa Mehrkhodavandi, Department of Chemistry, UBC
Partner: Darrel Fry, Advanced Biocarbon 3D Limited, Trail BC

Re-opening UBC safely: Critical Interventions for physical distancing and indoor environmental quality

Adam Rysanek, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), UBC
Co-investigators: Blair Satterfield, Sara Stevens (SALA); Stephen Rogak (MECH), Sabrina Wong (Nursing), Karen Bartlett (SPPH)
Partners: Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Nursing, School of Population and Public Health, UBC

Novel biosensor for screening and early detection of COVID-19 patients in high risk individuals living in long term care homes

Babak Shadgan, Department of Orthopaedics, and ICORD, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
Co-investigators: Jordan Guenette, Centre for Heart Lung Innovation; Reza Alemy, University of Victoria; Eric Sayre, Arthritis Research Canada
Partners: Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute; Univ. of Victoria; Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, Fraser Health; Surrey Memorial Hospital, BC

Swab-to-PCR: Simple and Rapid Diagnosis of COVID-19 Using Extraction-Free Nucleic Acid Amplification

Peter Tilley, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UBC
Co-investigators: Vijay Gadkar, Department of Pathology & Lab Medicine; Dave Goldfarb, Ghada Al-Rawahi, and Jocelyn Srigley (BCCH); Linda Hoang (BCCDC)
Partner: Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, BC Children’s Hospital; Public Health Laboratory, BC Centre for Disease Control

Addressing the pandemic democratically: Communications strategies for better public health outcomes through democratic legitimacy

Heidi Tworek, Department of History, Faculty of Arts, UBC
Co-investigators: Y. Tiberghien, SPPGA; T. Salway, Health Sciences, SFU and BCCDC
Partners: Europe Program, Chatham House, UK; Berlin office, German Marshall Fund of the United States.