- 18 August 2005 -

Biomedical spinoff gets Federal funds

A $3m Department of Defense appropriation to Buffalo BioBlower Technologies LLC, a spin-off of the University at Buffalo, announced will allow the new company to begin commercialising its powerful air sterilisation device.

The Department of Defense funding puts the company and its technology on a fast track that the company hopes will lead to use of the device by the US military to protect troops in the field from biological attacks.

The BioBlower can rapidly and continuously eradicate airborne biological pathogens, such as anthrax. It also has the potential to eradicate other airborne pathogens, such as avian flu, SARS and influenza viruses, as well as other bacteria and mold. The fundingwill support company operations, advanced development of the BioBlower technology and the eventual hiring of company staff.

"The BioBlower is now on its way toward becoming one of the critical technologies that will be used to protect our soldiers in the field from biological agents," said James Garvey, UB professor of chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences, co-founder and CTO of Buffalo BioBlower Technologies>

John Lordi, CEO of the company. is a UB research professor in the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

The researchers expect to deliver the first prototype to the Department of Defense by the end of this year for evaluation for eventual procurement.

Currently, researchers are testing the Bioblower technology against Bst, (Bacillus stearothermophilus), the bacterium spore against which surgical autoclaves are tested.Tests are funded by a $200,000 contract received in 2004 by CUBRC (the Calspan-UB Research Center), which is performing the advanced biological testing at UB on the current BioBlower system.

They also are funded by a $50,000 match from the UB Center for Advanced Biomedical and Bioengineering Technology, part of UB's New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences. Through its Product Development Fund, the UB Office of Science, Technology and Economic Outreach also has contributed seed funding to develop the technology.

Garvey explained that because the BioBlower destroys pathogens, it represents a major departure from the simple, passive filtration methods currently employed by the military to protect its troops from biological agents.

"Current methods don't kill the pathogens, instead they are trapped on these large HEPA filters, which must then be carefully stored until they can be safely destroyed," said Garvey. "That poses a danger of contamination to personnel handling them in the field, not to mention the costly and logistical difficulty of transporting the used filters back to a facility for destruction."

"The BioBlower, on the other hand, instantly kills all airborne pathogens, providing a continuous flow of sterile, breathable air," he said.

The technology is based on a modification of a Roots blower, a mechanical air-pump technology, which has been in existence for more than 100 years and has been used for a range of applications from vacuum pumps in research laboratories to superchargers for drag-racing "funny cars."

The BioBlower destroys airborne pathogens by rapidly heating the contaminated air under pressure and mechanically compressing it as it is being blown rapidly through the mechanical rotary pump. At the same time, the system blows disinfected air back into the enclosed environment.

UB has filed for patent protection on the BioBlower and the university has exclusively licensed the technology to Buffalo BioBlower Technologies LLC.