• Focus Areas
    • Cause Selection
    • Global Health & Wellbeing
      • EA Community Growth (Global Health and Wellbeing)
      • Farm Animal Welfare
      • Global Aid Policy
      • Global Health & Development
      • Scientific Research
      • South Asian Air Quality
    • Longtermism
      • Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness
      • Effective Altruism Community Growth
      • Potential Risks from Advanced AI
    • Other Areas
      • Criminal Justice Reform
      • History of Philanthropy
      • Immigration Policy
      • Land Use Reform
      • Macroeconomic Stabilization Policy
  • Grants
  • Research & Updates
    • Research Reports
    • Blog Posts
    • Notable Lessons
    • In the News
  • About Us
    • Grantmaking Process
    • How to Apply for Funding
    • Team
    • Stay Updated
  • We’re hiring!
  • Focus Areas
    • Cause Selection
    • Global Health & Wellbeing
      • EA Community Growth (Global Health and Wellbeing)
      • Farm Animal Welfare
      • Global Aid Policy
      • Global Health & Development
      • Scientific Research
      • South Asian Air Quality
    • Longtermism
      • Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness
      • Effective Altruism Community Growth
      • Potential Risks from Advanced AI
    • Other Areas
      • Criminal Justice Reform
      • History of Philanthropy
      • Immigration Policy
      • Land Use Reform
      • Macroeconomic Stabilization Policy
  • Grants
  • Research & Updates
    • Research Reports
    • Blog Posts
    • Notable Lessons
    • In the News
  • About Us
    • Grantmaking Process
    • How to Apply for Funding
    • Team
    • Stay Updated
  • We’re hiring!

University of Colorado — COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment Experiments

Visit Grantee Site
  • Focus Area: Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness
  • Category: Longtermism
  • Organization Name: University of Colorado
  • Amount: $250,000

  • Award Date: April 2020

Table of Contents


    Grant investigator: Jacob Trefethen

    This page was reviewed but not written by the grant investigator. University of Colorado staff also reviewed this page prior to publication.


    Open Philanthropy recommended a grant of $250,000 to the University of Colorado to support experiments on the decontamination and safe reuse of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers (HCWs) treating COVID-19 patients. This effort is led by Professor May Chu at the Colorado School of Public Health with collaborators from academic research labs, professional PPE testing laboratories, and infectious disease hospitals around the world.

    The aim of this study is to identify simple, executable processes for decontamination of homemade masks, surgical masks, and N95 respirators that can be applied anywhere, from hospitals to low-resource settings, so that HCWs are protected. The results could inform PPE recommendations for HCW protection from bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Professor Chu serves on the WHO’s Expert Advisory Committee for COVID-19 and helped lead the United States’ response to the 2014 Ebola epidemic at the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

    This falls within our focus area of biosecurity and pandemic preparedness.

    Related Items

    • Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness

      Centre for Effective Altruism — Research Assistant for Jonas Sandbrink

      Open Philanthropy recommended a grant of $77,000 to the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA). The grant will support CEA in funding a research assistant for Jonas Sandbrink, a...

      Read more
    • Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness

      Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative — Sculpting Evolution Collaboration

      Open Philanthropy recommended two grants totaling $130,000 over two years to the Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative to support their collaboration with Kevin Esvelt’s Sculpting Evolution group at the...

      Read more
    • Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness

      Early-Career Funding for Global Catastrophic Biological Risks — Scholarship Support (2022)

      Open Philanthropy recommended a total of approximately $985,926 to enable individuals in the early stages of their careers to pursue work and study related to global catastrophic biological...

      Read more
    Back to Grants Database
    Open Philanthropy
    Open Philanthropy
    • Careers
    • Press Kit
    • Governance
    • Privacy Policy
    Mailing Address
    182 Howard Street #225
    San Francisco, CA 94105
    Email
    [email protected]
    Media Inquiries
    [email protected]
    Anonymous Feedback
    Feedback Form

    Sign Up to Follow Our Work

    Join Our Mailing List

    © Open Philanthropy 2022