Amongst researchers and innovators around the world who continue to work towards solutions to curb the spread of COVID-19, one Saudi man and his London-based team has made headlines this week for their Mensura Mask, described as custom-fit masks that have been “designed to prevent injuries caused by poor-fitting PPE worn for an extended period of time, especially by the healthcare workers.”
Saudi engineer Mohanad Bahshwan
Saudi engineer Mohanad Bahshwan and the Imperial College London team of researchers he is part of has been given funding from Community Jameel, a social enterprise organization focused on positive societal change and economic sustainability, for their new project that utilizes advanced image processing algorithms and 3D printing to create these tailored facemasks.
The project by the eight-person team is essentially a design platform that allows healthcare workers and others to scan their faces using a smartphone and to then get facemasks designed to their specifications. They support the team received comes from the Community Jameel Imperial College COVID-19 Excellence Fund, which was launched in June of this year to provide support “for research projects into the impact, understanding, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19.”
Speaking about the support from the fund, Bahshwan, who is a PhD candidate at Imperial College, said, “Our team is working non-stop and collaborating virtually between Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the UK, and Belgium, and we are proud of what we have accomplished so far, but it is clear that there is much more work to do.
“We are grateful for the support provided by Community Jameel and Imperial College and we look forward to accelerating the development of our platform which will support the crucial work healthcare workers are doing around the world.”
