Dr. Kaye and Dr. Lauring Receive Ted Kennedy Family Faculty Team Excellence Award

March 31, 2021
Keith Kaye, MD, MPH
Keith Kaye, MD, MPH
Adam Lauring, MD, PhD
Adam Lauring, MD, PhD

Congratulations to Keith Kaye, MD, MPH and Adam Lauring, MD, PhD who received the College of Engineering Ted Kennedy Family Faculty Team Excellence Award for their collaborative efforts in developing methods for disinfecting N95 masks in 2020. This award was established by the College of Engineering to recognize extraordinary work from collaboration in teaching or research. 

N95 Disinfection and Reuse Project

The N95 disinfection and reuse project, a partnership at the University of Michigan involving the Central Sterile Processing Department (CSPD), College of Engineering, and Medical School. Dozens of researchers collaborated from both schools to assess the methods that best inactivate virus particles on N95 masks and determine how many times masks can be treated by those methods and still retain their protective capabilities. Working with Occupational Health Services, the decontaminated masks were then tested for their ability to form a seal on a person’s face using a fit test.

Keith Kaye, MD, MPH, Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of Research for the Division of Infectious Diseases, led work efforts for the Division. Listen to Dr. Kaye discuss the project and challenges that were faced here.

Adam Lauring, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and his lab were involved on the testing side where they determined the effectiveness of various decontamination methods for inactivating influenza viruses on the masks.

The protocols developed by the N95 disinfection and reuse project team were implemented by Michigan Medicine to process masks for reuse during the N95 mask shortage in Spring 2020. Learn more.