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It has been a full year since our battle against COVID-19 began and we are still living in this pandemic. Different parts of the world had their experiences of being in lockdowns with schools, shops, and offices closing. Our homes became our space for work (read our post about Five Healthy WFH Habits), daycare, school, gym, date nights, movie nights, you name it! Our times spent outside the home for essential items like visiting grocery stores, getting take-out at restaurants or visiting the doctor's office became our battle field. We put our masks on, face shields, gloves and bring hand sanitizers or wipes to do our best to protect ourselves. However, being indoors, or worse, poorly ventilated, confined, and crowded spaces can still place us at risk in the spread of airborne viruses, like COVID-19. That is why Bionic-i, a company specializing in using high intensity Ultraviolet C (UVC) to sterilize surfaces and disinfect airflow, has created a ventilation device that isolates viral strains in the air we breathe within our shared spaces.
In our Tjene Talks series, Calvin Yoa our Managing Partner at Tjene had the opportunity to interview Harvard trained Ophthalmologist, CEO and Co-Founder of Bionic-i, Dr. Joseph Ma, on his solution in using UVC.
In the March 2020 lockdown, Dr. Ma had to close all operating rooms for patient eye surgeries. During that time he began to think of how he could make his operating rooms safe and sterile for both his patients and staff when it was possible to reopen and return to work. Dr. Ma and his team had already been using UVC to sterilize eye implants, so they decided to test it and use UVC to sterilize viral aerosols, and to his surprise, it worked! They were able to find that UVC alters the RNA (ribonucleic acid), preventing the viruses from replication, ultimately stopping the spread of viruses, like COVID-19. The Bionic-i LightShield™ is a no touch device that sanitizes surfaces and disinfects air within a space. A simple switch to turn on the device and UVC emitted from the device will isolate the viral aerosols all day and all night. This ensures the next person who walks into the shared space would have peace of mind of a constantly sterilized space.
Watch our full interview below with Dr. Ma, as he discusses the discovery and science behind creating the Bionic-i LightShield™ ventilation device:
Facilities Management & Workplace Safety
