I’ve long been a fan of the T.V. show, Seinfeld. In case you’re not familiar with the show, it’s a situational comedy written by real-life comedian Jerry Seinfeld in which he and the rest of the cast, over the course of nine seasons, act out series of observational comedy-related vignettes in half-hour increments. I’m reminded of an episode that featured a minor character who had to be permanently housed in a bubble in order to compensate for his diminished immune system. On and off during my writing for the clean rooms blog, this character’s situation has come to my mind.

The implausibility of it is what is most striking to me. Of course, I don’t take the situation seriously; it’s from Seinfeld. But the idea of a person needing access to a sterile living environment is not so far-fetched. In the episode of Seinfeld, the person who lives in the sterile environment (the characters all refer to this person as “Bubble Boy”) spends all of his time in a modified room in his family’s house. Softwall cleanroom panels have been installed, which keep the air from the rest of the house from entering, with the intent of preventing contaminants from entering the environment. In reality, in the treatment of patients with severely compromised immune systems, such softwall cleanroom panels are also used, but the defining feature of those real-life environments is usually laminar air flow.

Laminar flow clean rooms involve air pressurization techniques that prevent the intrusion of unwanted contaminants into the clean room space. Laminar flow clean rooms work by constantly expelling air from a blower that is strategically positioned so that it prevents potentially contaminated air from entering the space. Laminar flow clean rooms are used in all kinds of contexts, including many outside of health care, such as in research and development applications.