MIT engineers along with the experts at the Brigham and Women's Hospital have designed a new face mask that works similarly like N95 masks. What makes these masks spectacularly different, however, is that they can be sterilized and reused.

The invention arrives just as COVID-19 cases have again seen a spike, which means healthcare workers need N95 masks more than ever. This new reusable maks is designed with durable silicone rubber material and can be manufactured using injection molding. It includes an N95 filter, though it requires fewer materials than a traditional N95 mask.

"We wanted to maximize the reusability of the system, and we wanted systems that could be sterilized in many different ways," says Giovanni Traverso, an MIT assistant professor of mechanical engineering and a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Traverso is the senior author of a paper describing the reusable masks, published in the journal British Medical Journal Open.

To create the mask, the research team designed a mask that could be easily sterilized so that it can be used many times. They eventually chose silicone rubber, a material known for its durability. In liquid form, silicone rubber can be easily molded into any form by way of injection molding, a process that's common in many factors for its quick turnaround time.

The design of the mask was inspired by 3M 1860 style of N95 masks, which is the basis for the masks used at Brigham and Women's Hospital. While most of the composition if of silicone rubber, the engineers included a space for either one or two N95 filters. Only those filters are replaceable; the rest of the mask can be reused after sterilization.

The team tried different methods of sterilization on the silicone masks, including soaking them in isopropyl alcohol and bleach, putting them in an oven, and by using a steam sterilizer. They found that the silicone rubber remained intact and undamaged after each sterilization.

The engineers are now designing another version of the mask in order to produce the perfect fit and come up with more durable materials.

The surge of new COVID-19 cases has encouraged experts and like-minded people to innovate and create methods in order to curb the spread of the virus, as well as provide hospitals with enough medical gear to protect their workers.

The World Health Organization says that at least 21 vaccines are being tested. It's only a matter of time before a COVID-19 vaccine is released.