Researchers choose OKC to test virus-fighting technology

Oklahoma City, Okla. (KOKH) — Researchers in Oklahoma are teaming up with top experts from around the country to study Oklahoma City.

They're hoping to find new ways to fight coronavirus and make public places safer as people get back to work.

“Right now, people have been focusing on, there’s a lock down going on and we’re trying to look for some sort of cure," said Salmaan Keshavjee, a professor at Harvard Medical School and a member of the START Coalition. "The difference that we’re doing here is that we’re looking at how do you make the public space safe again."

This week, Keshavjee is starting to work with researchers at the OU Health Sciences Center and the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation to find out what technology can help make people safer.

The START Coalition is looking at new kinds of tests, like ones people can take at home and more accurate antibody tests.

It's also looking at vaccines for other diseases that might help fight the virus.

Keshavjee says UVC lighting is one tool they're looking at using in public buildings.

“There are some technologies, things that are 70 years old like UVC lighting, upper room UVC lighting which has been shown to be safe for many, many years that we use in hospitals, we use in prisons and other places," Keshavjee said.

The coalition says it picked Oklahoma City since it already has a strong research community and it's the right size.

“You really need to work in an environment where, though COVID was present, it hasn’t ravaged the community," said Christian Kanady, who's organizing fundraising for the coalition. "That’s a perfect spot to be able to run these preventative treatments that my colleague Salmaan was talking about. One to find out what works, but also to make sure that we don’t get back into more of a contagious situation."

Once the coalition is done with its research in Oklahoma City, it plans to move on to cities around the country.