\u201cHow can we make our operating room safer during the pandemic?\u201d<\/p>\n
When Dr. James Hecker<\/a>, an anesthesiologist at UW Medical Center, heard this question from a fellow physician, he thought about the problem not just as a doctor but also as an engineer.<\/p>\n Hecker, who has a PhD in chemical and biomedical engineering, knew about the risks of airborne transmission of the novel coronavirus. It can remain in the air for hours on microdroplets released after someone with the virus coughs, sneezes or talks. These aerosols can also be produced during medical procedures, raising concerns for both patients and health care workers.<\/p>\n But how such infectious aerosols might spread indoors\u2014particularly in medical centers\u2014is not well understood.<\/p>\n To learn more, Hecker and Igor Novosselov<\/a>, research associate professor in Mechanical Engineering and adjunct research associate professor in the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), launched a study to track the movement of aerosols in operating rooms using state-of-the-art sensors designed by Novosselov.<\/p>\n The project recently received $25,000 in funding<\/a> through the new Director\u2019s Award from UW CoMotion<\/a>, a university hub supporting collaborative research. The team includes Edmund Seto<\/a>, associate professor in DEOHS, Martin Cohen<\/a>, DEOHS principal lecturer and assistant chair and many other UW physicians and researchers.<\/p>\n \u201cI am trying to help to bring the incredible talent and technology at the UW into the sometimes insulated environments of our hospitals,\u201d Hecker said.<\/p>\nFishing for aerosols<\/h2>\n