News

Fundraising for research through design masks’ sale

  • Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB)
    Université / Administration centrale et Rectorat
    11 mai 2020
  • Catégorie
    Recherche, Université
  • Thème
    Sciences de la vie & médecine

One unexpected aspect of the current situation is that it stimulates creativity and sparks new initiatives all over the country. One of them, called mymask.lu, was recently launched by designer Marc Wilmes and his team. The aim? Producing customisable face masks that are sold online and delivered to your address in Luxembourg. But here’s the interesting part: on top of providing a resource in high demand, this project is raising funds for local research. For every mask sold, one euro is donated to support scientific projects conducted at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg.

With the measures currently in place to prevent the spread of the virus – covering your nose and mouth is mandatory in places where a distance of two metres cannot be respected – we are all using masks on a regular basis. Why not support scientific research while we are at it? This is now possible thanks to mymask.lu. This website, launched by Marc Wilmes Design, sells face masks suitable for the current situation: made of fabric, equipped with a nose clip and an integrated pocket for additional filter material, they are reusable and washable at 60°C. “These masks can also be customised with a logo, a photo or a slogan printed on top of it,” details Marc Wilmes the designer behind the project. “It allows us to get creative and to keep on smiling, even under our mask!”

These non-medical masks made of fabric help reduce the dissemination of droplets carrying the virus that can be spread by talking, sneezing or coughing, even in the absence of symptoms. They are not suitable for doctors and caregivers but are useful as a complementary means to barrier gestures for the general public, especially in public places where interpersonal distance is difficult to maintain.

While wearing a mask and observing social distancing is a personal contribution to help limit the spread of the coronavirus, scientific research also plays an important role in the fight against the pandemic. This is why, with every mask sold, mymask.lu supports research at the LCSB, an interdisciplinary research centre dedicated to accelerating biomedical research. The centre fosters collaboration between different scientific fields in order to understand mechanisms of diseases and pave the way for the development of new tools in diagnostics and therapy. “We are very happy of this collaboration with mymask.lu, it is a great way to contribute to the current effort, showcase a local initiative and support scientific research,” concludes Dr Lisa Smits, fundraiser at the LCSB.

IMPORTANT: These masks are not medically certified nor tested. The risk of pathogen transmission can be partially reduced by the mask, but it does not provide an effective protection against infection.