25 March 2020, Lecturer and students volunteer time to make sanitiser

Dr Shyamal Das and his team in a University of Otago School of Pharmacy laboratory, from left to right: Dr Shyamal Das, Rishi Shah, Prakash Khadka, Tushar Saha, Bishal Adhikari, Rakesh Bastola and Nicole Wood.

All the hand sanitiser needed by the University of Otago's Dunedin campus over the coming weeks has been produced in-house and in record time by a School of Pharmacy senior lecturer and his students.

Dr Shyamal Das.

Pharmaceutical Sciences Senior Lecturer Dr Shyamal Das led the project, making an ethanol-based hand rub. Six of his students helped produce the sanitiser, volunteering their time in the face of the escalating coronavirus crisis, Dr Das said. They are Tushar Saha, Nicole Wood, Rakesh Bastola, Rishi Shah, Prakash Khadka and Bishal Adhikari.

Dr Das says he had wanted to contribute to the community during this COVID19 pandemic but had been unsure how. He had been researching the development of inhalers to help with this disease but knew that would take time.

“So I immediately decided to prepare essential hand sanitizer, of which there is currently a crisis in the market, to help minimize the spread of viruses and save lives. And all my students devoted themselves to this novel initiative, to help in this humanitarian crisis.”

That idea became action following the generous support of Professor Carlo Marra, the Dean of the School of Pharmacy, Dr Das says.

In all, 100 litres of the sanitiser was produced over three long days in six batches, with the last of it completed just before the School of Pharmacy's doors were locked for the nationwide shutdown on Wednesday, Dr Das said. That amount of sanitiser more than covered the University's needs.

Emergency and Business Continuity Coordinator Andrew Ferguson says the bulk of the sanitiser was being distributed to the essential services remaining open on campus, including Campus Watch and the campus's residential colleges.

The excess sanitiser has been made available to Dunedin Public Hospital and Civil Defence.

While the University sanitiser was not available to the public, Mr Ferguson says it was hoped its production would take a significant amount of pressure off commercial suppliers, freeing up capacity for the general public.

The sanitiser formulation follows World Health Organisation recommended guidelines and contains 80% ethanol, glycerol (1.45%) and hydrogen peroxide (0.125% v/v). Quality control testing has been completed to ensure, when used correctly, the sanitiser will help minimise the spread of microorganisms.

For more information, contact:

Dr Shyamal Das
Senior Lecturer (Pharmaceutical Sciences)
Tel +64 3 479 4262
Email shyamal.das@otago.ac.nz

Craig Borley
Communications Adviser (Division of Health Sciences)
Mob +64 21 279 4144
Email craig.borley@otago.ac.nz