$225K Award Recognizes “Excellent Efficacy Against Pathogens”
(Ithaca, NY) — Halomine™, Inc. today announced that it has received a $225,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to continue its research and development of HaloFilm™, the company’s breakthrough product. HaloFilm™ is a revolutionary new product that can hold germ-killing chlorine from cleaning products on a treated surface for weeks. Starting as a spray, HaloFilm can create a re-applicable antimicrobial coating that enables chlorinated disinfecting products to remain effective for weeks instead of minutes.
“Halomine is grateful to the NSF for this award and its recognition of the extraordinary potential that HaloFilm has to provide antimicrobial protection to hospitals, public facilities and consumer households. This important grant is the latest in a series of awards that Halomine has received showing the growing confidence the scientific, corporate, and investor communities have in our technology and how it will impact the marketplace,” said Ted Eveleth, Halomine’s CEO. “The proposed project will advance the development of a solution offering continuous protection from bacteria, fungi and viruses, as well as food-borne pathogens and even mold. The current disinfecting paradigm relies on killing pathogens daily or less frequently, leaving surfaces vulnerable to new contamination. The proposed antimicrobial coating maintains surface integrity, potentially serving hospitals, long-term care facilities, outpatient centers, and other applications such as home health, food safety, mass transit safety, mold abatement, and schools,” stated the Award Abstract. The full NSF Award Abstract can be found here: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2014378&HistoricalAwards=false Halomine Inc. is a startup company based on a Cornell discovery and founded by Dr. Mingyu Qiao. Dr. Qiao, Halomine’s CTO, is a former postdoctoral associate whose research in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering at the Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences focused on the synthetic compound known as N-halamine and its real-world applications. Ted Eveleth recently joined as Halomine Inc.’s CEO. Mr. Eveleth, who has guided a number of start-ups through early development, received his MBA from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business in 1990. HaloFilm is a “chlorine-extender,” which means after spraying HaloFilm on a surface, subsequently applied chlorine will be bound and held in place. Each time germs touch the treated surface, HaloFilm releases enough chlorine to kill the germs, but continues to hold the remaining chlorine in place. HaloFilm allows the bound chlorine to provide germ-killing protection for days. The proposed project will investigate the translational utility, efficacy and safety of a spray-on, re-chargeable, re-applicable antimicrobial surface coating mainly in a hospital setting. Halomine’s application explained, “The coating converts the surface into a chlorine battery such that even a commercially available sanitizer leaves the surface covered with chlorine in a form that can last for more than two weeks without toxic effects upon contact. The proposed coating has excellent efficacy against pathogens because it relies on chlorine; chlorine has enjoyed decades of use because of its broad-spectrum efficacy without generating resistance in pathogens. ” While this specific grant is designed to demonstrate efficacy against hospital related pathogens, HaloFilm has significant amounts of data clearly demonstrating its ability to kill mold, and a broad spectrum of bacteria. HaloFilm is currently undergoing additional testing against viruses, in response to the current novel coronavirus pandemic.
A Rechargeable Antimicrobial Technology
Mingyu Qiao, Ph.D., came to Cornell to study with Professor Minglin Ma and to launch a new rechargeable antimicrobial technology—a void in the healthcare industry.
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Greg Howard of Cogent Strategic Communications
207-232-2863