I was in Seattle during my junior year of high school when I heard the first rumblings of this new thing, COVID19. Not even a day later, I felt like my life was falling apart. I was set for a trip to Ghana, Africa with the Memphis in May festival and a summer internship in Cuba - both of which were canceled in a matter of hours. My parents and I flew back to my hometown later that week and began our first two-week quarantine, the first of many to come.
Fast forward to a year later. I was moving onto Loyola University Chicago's campus for the first time as
a second-semester Freshman. Before moving in, each residential student had to have proof of a negative
covid test. After passing that first hurdle, one of my parents helped me move in because having both of
them was "covid unsafe." As they drove away I waved from my dorm window and started yet another
two-week quarantine.
The following semester entailed bi-weekly testing, an awkward encounter of spitting into tubes quickly
became the social event… friends who spit together (and test negative) stay together. Now here we all are,
just over two years later. We are still bound by strict rules, negative test results and vaccines mandated
in most places. Life still seems to pause every time there is a surge, or a new variant runs ramped.
We wait at least 48 hours for a negative test to have the all-clear to move on with our lives, a test that
could be a false positive, or worse, negative. What if I told you there was a way to test at home, from a
college dorm, from your car, or desk at your office? And even better, you could have the results as quickly
as you could take the test?
Bo Gehring, an eighty-year-old invention creator who has dabbled in just about everything has found a
Covid test solution. He has created a portable breathalyzer Bo calls "Sarsie," "the gadget's name
derives from "SARS," for the respiratory illness, with an -ie because, he said, 'I thought it was cute.'"
Bo's creative process began when he identified the issue, surges in covid led to the unavailability of tests.
Inspired by a video simulation of airflow at a Chinese restaurant, Bo began to create his device.
As a college dropout (four times), coder, welder, artist, scientist, filmmaker, designer, defense contractor,
decorated motorcycle racer, and Microsoft employee who had a close relationship with Bill Gates and
Paul Allen, Bo has all of the skills necessary for creating the "covid-breathalyzer."
His device works on physics, not the chemistry that tests today work on. The sensor in the device
picks up on the presence of any and all lipids that respiratory viruses live in (developing a strategy to
differ in other kinds of contagions). Bo is waiting on two patents that are pending, hopeful a larger
company buys in and starts production on a large scale.
Bo is a Big C creative in every way. This invention could not only save lives but also have a massive
impact on the world's outlook as it relates to covid testing and general availably of care. Bo's external
motivation by the needs of the world paired with his internal motivation of solving his own frustration
has led to this incredible invention made possible by Bo's extrinsic personality.
Sources and other helpful links
Sue Halpern New Yorker Magazine, Innovation Dept. "Put Your Lips Together"
https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/graphicshistory/chapter/6-9-bo-gehring-and-associates/
This is a really exciting creation! I had never heard of this before. With how much COVID has affected each and every one of our lives, and having personally dealt multiple times with the stress of waiting on test results, having something such as a breathalyzer that could give near-immediate results would be massively beneficial. I also think the science behind it is super intriguing---the fact that he uses physics instead of chemistry is very out-of-the-box and innovative. Great work!
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Bo Gehring before. It's crazy that an 80 year old, an age that is especially vulnerable to the virus, is out here inventing and creating a device that could make a huge impact! I also think it's interesting that Bo was a college dropout. I feel like a lot of science and tech creatives that we hear about were college dropouts, such as Mark Zuckerberg. I hope we hear more about Gehring's breathalyzer in the future!
ReplyDeleteWOW! That is so so so cool. I have never thought about using physics, rather than chemistry/biology, to solve medical problems. I feel like when I think about the medical field, physics always seemed like the least relevant "hard science" to me. I suppose Bo Gehring and his invention prove the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to our problems!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, how interesting! It's been so strange to try to balance the pros and cons different Covid tests when we're all relatively new and the science is always subject to change. This could be such an impactful new product!
ReplyDeleteBefore reading your post I was not familiar with Bo Gehring and would not have considered a breathalyzer to be a option of testing Covid. I am always in awe of people who use their skill sets to think creatively about a solution to an everyday "problem". I wonder how reliable the breathalyzer is currently and how realistic is it that people would be able to afford one to be testing themselves. Covid has really impacted each of our lives and so any discovery or invention that helps people during this pandemic should be celebrated!
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