Novel approach to killing superbugs

RADICAL COATINGS:STATISTICS FROM the World Health Organisation estimate that healthcare acquired infections affect about three million people in the EU each year. Irish start-up company Radical Coatings hopes the high-tech tile glaze it has developed in conjunction with tile manufacturer Vitra may be part of the solution.

Radical Coatings was set up in 2010 as a spin-out from DIT by scientists Dr Suresh Pillai and Dr Hugh Hayden. Pillai is an expert in the field of photocatalysis while Hayden’s specialisation is the development of novel technologies to kill pathogens, such as so-called “superbugs”, in the environment.

The impetus to develop a commercial product came about when they worked on a research project with Vitra in CREST DIT under Enterprise Ireland’s Innovation Partnership programme, which links industry with academic expertise.

“We were approached by Robert Hickson of Vitra to help his company with the manufacture of a photocatalytic ceramic tile,” Hayden says. “We developed a nano-thin coating that is activated by artificial light as opposed to ultraviolet light. This means it works in situations where there is no natural light, such as operating theatres. Medical settings are probably the most obvious use for the technology but it has applications in other situations such as swimming pools where it kills the fungus that causes athletes’ foot. Over time it will also be rolled out to the consumer market.”

Hayden has left DIT to set up and manage the new company which will officially launch its tile glaze product in December. The company’s launch client is Vitra, which will be first to market with the technology, but it is already working on an antimicrobial tile grout with another client and has a number of other projects in the offing.

“Our research is funded by working with clients who want to bridge the gap from a laboratory beta product to a fully validated commercial product and we have benefited significantly from working with Vitra which has put a great support structure around us,” Hayden says. “The technology is patented and what also protects us from competitors is the high level of know-how in the company.”