NOVEMBER 14-20, 2014
CHINA DAILY
PA G E 2 3
ASIA WEEKLY
IpAsia
World’s first smart
anti-microbial coating
PATENTED TECHNOLOGY INVENTED IN HONG KONG IS BEING USED
IN LOCAL HOSPITALS AFTER BEING LICENSED FOR DEVELOPMENT
A home-grown technology from
the Hong Kong University of Science
and Technology (HKUST) is helping
set a new standard in maintaining
public health.
The smart anti-microbial coating
has a long-lasting effect against a
wide range of microbes, providing
a rapid as well as persistent surface
disinfection, reducing viruses, bacteria and spores by 99.99 percent
within a minute of contact.
“It is smart in a sense that the coated surface area that was touched or
contaminated will self-clean and selfdisinfect, closing the loop in surface
disinfection,” said Yeung King-lun, a
professor with HKUST’s department
of chemical and biomolecular engineering, who is leading the research
team along with Professor Joseph
Kwan. “The coating is designed to last
for at least 30 days and is compatible
to most materials. Tested to be safe
for touch, inhalation and ingestion,
the coating consists of USEPA and
USFDA-approved ingredients.”
First conceptualized in 2003 after
the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in southern China, the research team spent
seven years developing the technology before launching the product
in 2010. The patented technology
has since been licensed to Greenland
Biotech Limited, a company founded
by a group of UST scientists, with
the technology commercialized as
GermFree7.
The product is used in Hong Kong
hospitals, where Yeung said, “it provides an additional line of defense
against hospital acquired infections”.
GermFree7 is designed to benefit
both hospitals and home users, with
an “effective disinfection barrier for
frequently touched surfaces that are
high risk to microbial contaminations”.
Transparent, colorless and odorless, the smart coating is simply
applied to the surface and disinfects
a full spectrum of microbes in body
fluids, including saliva and blood.
Non-adhesive, the coating can be
removed with detergent.
While the coating is currently
under exclusive license, other technologies developed by HKUST are
available on the Asia IP Exchange
(AsiaIPEX), the region’s largest free
international online IP listings portal. With more than 25,000 listed
technologies and 7,500 members,
AsiaIPEX partners with universi-
ties, such as HKUST, and research
institutes both in Hong Kong and
overseas to help promote technologies to members.
Development of the technology
took several years and Yeung said the
team forced themselves to think outside the box to create a breakthrough
technology.
“The most challenging part in
developing this technology was to
break from the norm and approach
the problem from a different perspective,” Yeung said. “Once a list of
attributes is generated, it is simply an
engineering problem to implement
these attributes into the product.”
The coating uses just three ingredients to help reduce costs, and is
non-toxic and biodegradable, making it a consumer-friendly product
for wide-range uses.
Yeung and his team of researchers
have also looked to address similar
issues in air and in water. One technology that will be listed on AsiaIPEX
following the patent process is a
groundbreaking Micro-Mini Pulsed
Electric Field Device. Debuted just
this summer, the device was designed
to disinfect water without the need
for chemical disinfectants, which
may alter the quality of the water.
While water disinfection technologies such as chlorination, ozonation,
heating and reverse osmosis are
widely used, the device disinfects
without causing change in water
quality, taste, odor and does not produce unwanted toxic by-products.
It is extremely cost-efficient when
compared to heating, reverse osmosis and even filtration.
The technology is a possible way
to help control the spread of waterborne diseases and in just a few
seconds, has the potential to reduce
more than 90 percent of bacteria.
Powered by two AA battery cells,
the device was designed for pointof-use application and to be installed
at home or on any public tap water
system. Like the microbial coating,
the Micro-Mini Pulsed Electric Field
Device is cost-effective and environmentally friendly.
Currently undergoing testing at a
Hong Kong public hospital, the device
uses new pulsed electric field disinfection technology to kill bacteria by
damaging their microbial cell wall.
“This device is designed to address
varying microbial loading in drinking water due to ageing water distribution systems in buildings,” Yeung
said. “It was also envisioned for use
in poor regions where safe drinking
water is a challenging issue.”
Also in addressing bacteria and
microbes found in the air, Yeung’s
team has successfully developed a
multi-level anti-microbial particulate air filter, which provides rapid
disinfections of airborne microbes
and prevents their accumulation on
air filter surfaces.
“The formulation [of the air filter]
can inactivate viruses, bacteria and
spores without contact as it passes
over the surface of the filter,” said
Yeung of the patented technology,
which is currently under license negotiation. “This enhances the filter effectiveness against airborne microbes.”
Like the anti-microbial coating,
the multilevel anti-microbial par-
Professor Yeung King–lun (right) and Professor Joseph Kwan collaborated in
developing the Micro-Mini Pulsed Electric Field Device.
ticulate air filter is long-lasting, effective for at least 12 months, while also
usable in air purifiers and in-air handling systems, making the technology easy to adopt.
With several successful technologies undergoing the tech transfer
process, Yeung and his team are now
looking to develop a material that
can harvest moisture, again tackling
the issue of water scarcity. Yeung
said that the material will be able
to remove moisture from the air in
order to collect water droplets that
can produce clean water.
It can also be used indoors for air
dehumidification, reducing energy
use, greenhouse gas emissions from
air dehumidifier and air conditioners, ultimately contributing to
improve personal comfort and environmental protection.
BIP Asia Dec 4-5, 2014
Plenary Session I — IP Business Potential Behind Innovations
Dec 4
10:00 – 11:00
Hall 5F-G
HKCEC
•Joo Sup Kim, PhD
Vice President, Intellectual
Property Center, LG
Electronics Inc (South
Korea)
•Toshimoto Mitomo
Executive Vice President,
Intellectual Property
Department, Sony Corporation
of America (USA)
• Brian Hinman
Chief Intellectual Property
Officer, Royal Philips
(Netherlands)
Plenary Session II — Global Patent Strategies for Emerging Technologies
Dec 4
11:20 – 12:30
Hall 5F-G
HKCEC
•Kwang Jun Kim
Senior Vice President and
Chief Intellectual Property
Officer, IP Team, Samsung
Display (South Korea)
• Christian Frey
Head of Innovation &
Patent Coordination,
Siemens (Switzerland)
•T Maria Lam
Chief of Staff to the General
Counsel and Director of
APAC Patent Strategy, Intel
Corporation (USA)
Register at www.bipasiaforum.com
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