A potential new weapon in the fight against COVID-19: Food coloring

[Wicked Blue]

August 20, 2020
By The Conversation
Raw Story

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

Our biomedical engineering lab has developed a way to potentially neutralize viruses lingering in the air using aerosols of FDA-approved food coloring dyes. Aerosols are tiny bits of solid or liquid matter suspended in air.

Our idea was inspired by photodynamic therapy, which is a medical treatment, including for certain types of cancer. Photodynamic therapy uses a photosensitizer, a chemical that reacts with oxygen in the presence of light, to produce oxygen free radicals. These radicals are highly reactive, meaning they trigger other chemical reactions, including ones that kill harmful pathogens.

Instead of using expensive medical photosensitizers, we have identified several FDA-approved food coloring dyes that can be used to generate free radicals in visible light. We use ultrasound to generate small aerosols containing the food coloring so that the dyes can float and linger in the air. The aerosols are barely visible, and their small size and short lifespan in light means they don’t stain surfaces.

We used this technique to produce a device, Photodynamic Airborne Cleaner, that disinfects pathogens floating in the air. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first-of-its-kind photodynamic therapy aerosol generator for airborne disinfection.

More at link

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/08/a-potential-new-weapon-in-the-fight-against-19-food-coloring/


"It doesn't stain"... I get the feeling we could all soon be covered in tiny red, green and purple spots.

[brush]

1. Promising if it doesn't do anything to the inside of our lungs.

[GeorgeGist]

2. Disinfect them ...

Like Trump proposed?😭

[Sapient Donkey]

4. I was told I had a very good idea. From smart people. Very smart people told me I had a hugely good

idea. I said. To the really smart people who said my idea was really good. I said, why don't we just inhale RED Number 5 to kill the covid? They told me that is something they never thought of, but that it was one of the best ideas yet. We need to look into this. Inhaling red dye number 5. Maybe mix it with bleach to give some extra anti-vi.. killing ability.

[crickets]

3. Might be useful for mass transit and other frequently used public enclosed spaces.

I do think that over time, the dye will build up and show in the environment. It's an interesting idea, though.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

5. Wow,that is cool!