Glycol vapors—specifically propylene glycol (PG), dipropylene glycol (DPG), and triethylene glycol (TEG)—are abundant, widely used compounds found in everyday products from cosmetics to food to theatrical fog. Manufactured at industrial scales and used for decades in consumer applications, these compounds also possess powerful antimicrobial properties when vaporized into indoor air. Blueprint Biosecurity is currently exploring glycol vapors as a neglected but promising emergency tool for airborne disinfection. At invisible and odorless concentrations, glycol vapors have been shown to rapidly inactivate a wide range of viruses, bacteria, and fungi. In a severe disease outbreak where conventional tools like PPE and ventilation may be insufficient, glycols could offer a rapidly deployable, low-cost, and minimally disruptive layer of protection, especially for safeguarding critical infrastructure operations.
Publication: Developing a Customer Screening Framework for the Life Sciences
Introduction
Since the 1970’s and the advent of recombinant DNA, biology has consistently become easier to engineer, and the pace of these advances is increasing. Many tools and capabilities for engineering biology are becoming more powerful, more affordable, and more widely available. These capabilities are critical for basic scientific research as well as advances in health, agriculture, and a wide range of applications in the burgeoning bioeconomy. However, access to these tools also raises the possibility that they could be accidentally or deliberately misused to cause harm by enabling development of toxins, pathogens, or other dangerous biological agents, including some not found in nature. Potential biological harms include high-consequence events such as the development and release of an engineered pathogen that causes a global catastrophe as well as a wide range of lower-consequence, higher-likelihood events. To prevent this type of misuse, policy experts have recommended expanding customer screening practices and policy frameworks to include a broad range of life sciences products, services, and infrastructure (Carter and DiEuliis, 2019a). Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have increased this type of risk and have intensified these calls for action (Carter, et al., 2023; Helena, 2023).
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Far-UVC is a new form of germicidal UV light (GUV). Because it is strongly absorbed by proteins in the outer layer of human skin and eyes, it can inactivate a wide range of pathogens with minimal penetration into and effects on human tissues. This enables higher human exposure limits, unlocking the potential for disinfecting occupied spaces continuously while achieving significantly improved air cleaning over current alternatives. Far-UVC is also silent, energy efficient, commercially viable at scale, less vulnerable to engendering resistance than pharmaceuticals, and can be deployed in advance of an outbreak to help prevent a pandemic from occurring in the first place.
In order to ensure that the workers who operate critical societal infrastructure have ample amounts of effective personal protective equipment (PPE) to prevent a pandemic, our PPE blueprint outlines what types of PPE are needed, how much, and how we can improve supply before and during future crises. We are particularly interested in advancing the use, stockpiling, and manufacturing of highly protective reusable respirators.