NCSU College of Textiles Receives $40K Donation for Antiviral Textile Research
December 5, 2006

 

NCSU – College of Textiles announced today that it had received a forty thousand dollar donation from "LaamScience, Inc. to support research of antimicrobial coating, especially with application to textile products. The donation will be used by Dr. Stephen Michielsen, Associate Professor in the College of Textiles to further his work on textile coatings which have antibacterial and antiviral properties. Dr. Michielsen remarked, "The funds provided by LaamScience will enable us to equip our laboratory to generate new antiviral textile materials and first generation prototypes. We anticipate that this will greatly reduce the time from discovery to market introduction."
The antiviral work of Dr. Michielsen was recently patented and exclusively licensed to LaamScience, a North Carolina company recently formed to commercialize the proprietary antimicrobial coating technology. LaamScience plans to lease research labs in the Research Triangle Park area and continue development of the novel, permanent coatings. This coatings, when exposed to visible light, kills or inactivates virtually all viruses and most bacteria. The coating has been shown to kill 99.9% of influenza viruses and 99.99% of vaccina virus. Some of the tested viruses are vaccinia which is a large enveloped DNA virus and Influenza which is a small enveloped RNA virus. Enveloped viruses constitute the vast majority of disease-causing viruses. The technology was developed by Dr. Stephen Michielsen, Associate Professor in the North Carolina State University College of Textiles and colleagues at Emory University.
LaamScience plans to develop and license a number of commercial products based on the technology. "We have many exciting opportunities to use our proprietary coatings to stop infection before it causes disease and death”, said Tom Roberg, CEO of LaamScience. “Opportunities include antiviral masks for use during Influenza pandemics, coatings for infection control in areas where vulnerable people gather such as patient waiting rooms and day-care centers, and room air filters. LaamScience’s plan for 2006 is to transfer the technology from NCSU, develop a base of partners, and initiate prototype product development."

For more information, visit www.LAAMscience.com or contact Tom Roberg at (919) 872-560