Year: 2020-21

Company: Analytik Jena

Liaison(s): Darius Kelly, Sean Gallagher

Analytik Jena (AJ) is currently one of the global leaders in manufacturing life science products including supplying bioimaging systems for academics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology applications. They specialize in fluorescence and luminescence-based imaging applications especially in proteomics, genomics, and plant imaging.

In January 2020, a global health emergency was declared due to the identification of a new virus, which was later officially termed as “COVID-19.” The spread of the virus throughout various countries worldwide led to one imposing problem, a drastic shortage of PPE in the medical field.

To tackle this problem, our TMP team partnered with AJ to develop a high throughput, non-shadowing UVGI disinfection device for N95 masks in a medical setting. To accomplish this task, the team performed literary research regarding the effects of UVC light on N95 masks, analyzed AJ’s current UVGI disinfection device, the “CrossLinker CL-3000,” and examined the direct competitor products that are available in the market. Experiments were performed to verify literature findings, and a survey was conducted to fully understand the user requirements. The team developed a device design through computer programs such as CADs and Ray Tracing for system validation, prior to manufacturing. Defining the FDA approval path, and IP and manufacturing strategies will be completed to ensure that the device prototype does not infringe on other patents, will be approved by the FDA, and can be manufactured by AJ. As a final deliverable, the team will test a manufactured device prototype to validate that it works as designed.