Abstract
Postdoctoral researcher Thea Ekins-Coward, 29, lost an arm and suffered other injuries in a lab explosion at the University of Hawaii (UH), M¯anoa, on March 16. Queen’s Medical Center, where Ekins-Coward was initially hospitalized, declined to release any information about her condition as of C&EN press time. Ekins-Coward was working for the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI), which is a research unit within UH. HNEI researcher Jian Yu operates the lab in which the explosion happened. Yu’s research program includes developing microbial processes for producing biofuels and bioplastics from renewable feedstocks. At the time of the incident, Ekins-Coward was combining hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and oxygen gases from high-pressure cylinders into a lower pressure container, said Brian Taylor, dean of the School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology, during a March 17 news conference. The mixture was to be used to feed bacteria. “Since 2008, when the project began, the
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