Cambridge-China COVID-19 Collaboration (4C) Appeal to secure high quality Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for frontline staff in the NHS

During these difficult times we all are trying to help in every way possible to conquer the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Brave and reliable NHS workers in the frontline need to be well protected to win this war against this viscous invisible enemy. Please read the message below from two of our colleagues who are raising fund to purchase necessary PPE from China.

Dear Colleagues,

We, Sadaf Farooqi and Toni Vidal Puig, are University of Cambridge academics and medical doctors asking for your help with an Appeal we have launched to obtain high quality Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for frontline staff in the NHS.

We are delighted that the University is giving its strong support to this venture which will be one of the focal points of the University's COVID-19 appeal, alongside research and student support.

As you know, many researchers across Cambridge have kindly donated spare Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) as part of the University's drive to support our colleagues in the hospital dealing with COVID-19. We want to go further, we want to guarantee the safety and protection of the doctors, nurses, paramedics and other health care professionals on the frontline in Cambridge and the Eastern region, so they can focus entirely on what they do best - caring for patients.

Toni Vidal Puig and I and our teams have been actively working on this for a few weeks. Toni's collaborators at the University of Nanjing, China have generously provided their support and are helping us to purchase supplies in China. We have the support of Chinese entrepreneurs trained in Cambridge who have committed to providing air freight at cost. In parallel, my team (and in some cases their partners) have been working with UK companies that make vacuum cleaners (filters are a major challenge), to see if we can manufacture high grade masks. We have designed plastic visors with a community of volunteers in Makespace in the Dept of Engineering supported by major plastics companies. The visors have been approved by Clinical Engineering and by Infection Control so we know they are safe to use in this high risk clinical setting.

All of this has been possible with the support of many people and companies who have given freely of their time and resources. But we now need to raise funds. This will help us to purchase supplies in China working with our academic colleagues. In the UK, we will make visors (1000/day) to distribute to care homes and paramedics where the need is greatest currently. If you are able to, please consider making a donation.

Our website is www.4cppe.com where you will find a link to our Just Giving page. Please forward this email to others who may be in a position to contribute. Let people know about the Appeal using social media # 4cppe .

On behalf of our colleagues in the NHS, thank you for your support and generosity!

Sadaf Farooqi Wellcome Principal Research Fellow Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science

Toni Vidal Puig Professor of Molecular Nutrition Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science