C-CAMP, Applied Materials & Biomoneta collaborate for innovative anti-infection biotechnology

Bengaluru: The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), India’s premier deep-tech innovation hub and the chief architect behind the COVID-19 Innovations Deployment Accelerator (C-CIDA), has collaborated with Applied Materials India and Biomoneta Research to develop and commercialize an industrial biotech solution to prevent the spread of infections. The solution uses Biomoneta’s innovative Zebox technology that has revolutionized the concept of air filtration and purification in infection-prone settings such as Intensive Care Units (ICUs).

Under the unique C-CIDA accelerator platform, C-CAMP has selected 30 technologies as “C-CIDA Stars for Impact” from over 1100 submission across length and breadth of the country. The selections were done in March-April 2020 for their high potential to ensure an immediate impact in India’s battle against COVID-19. Since then, C-CAMP has been fast-tracking deployment by facilitating operational validation and field implementation, through industry and manufacturing partnerships.

At a time when hospitals have become infection hotspots and 20% of hospital patients with COVID-19 are reported to have caught Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI), there is a significant need for such a technology not just in India or in Low or Middle Income Countries (LMICs) but across the world. This collaboration will undoubtedly reduce the go-to-market time while also sharpening the market-fit of the product. By providing funding and strategic support, Applied Materials India is helping identify and bridge the gap in Biomoneta’s final push towards commercializing Zebox. The global engineering leader is also extending support in modelling and building simulations that will help optimize the device flow parameters and location within rooms of varying dimensions.

Speaking about the rapid pace of development, Dr Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO & Director, C-CAMP said “The COVID-19 pandemic needed us to react fast. To cater to this, we created C-CIDA in order to identify and handhold potentially life-saving innovations facing last-mile issues through never-before industry engagement. This tripartite collaboration is a proof that platforms such as C-CIDA are crucial to winning the battle against COVID-19.”

Biomoneta’s Zebox is a powerful air decontamination technology that combines state-of-the-art electronics and air-flow design with novel anti-microbial materials to effectively destroy a billion plus microbes across the entire spectrum of bacteria, fungi, and virus families including COVID-19. The device was designed primarily to prevent HAIs, specifically multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacterial infections. An effective decontamination technology that improves infection control in healthcare spaces must: (i) kill pathogenic or contaminating microbes instead of merely trapping, (ii) operate continuously and safely in human presence, and (iii) require near-zero manual intervention while operating close to the source of infection or contamination. To the best of our knowledge, no other technology being evaluated globally meets all these requirements. Zebox is therefore, a first-in-its-class with the potential to be a global lifesaver.

Dr Janani Venkatraman, Founder – Director, Biomoneta Technologies said, “Biomoneta conducts iterative field deployments with reputed clinical partners to ensure product-market fit. Devices must be positioned optimally to ensure hospitals and patients get the best possible outcomes. We were delighted to work towards this goal with the Applied materials simulation team. We were especially thrilled that AM opened up its Mumbai facility for us to validate simulation data in real life”

”We, alongside C-CAMP, provide technical expertise to start-ups that have brought the most innovative solutions to fight COVID. Biomoneta’s novel Zebox technology is probably one of the most impactful solutions today. We have supported Biomoneta with powerful engineering simulations done from our Bengaluru facility which was further independently validated by our team in Mumbai for microbial load, pre and post deployment.”- said Srinivas Satya, Country President, Applied Materials India.

Zebox was deployed in a few leading hospitals like St. John’s Hospital and Medical College, and Baptist Hospital in Bengaluru. During these trials the product met with a clear need for increased effectiveness against highly infectious, pathogenic viruses that can cause epidemics, especially in children. That is when Applied Materials India, a strategic partner to C-CAMP in various other initiatives, decided to step in by extending its technical expertise and financial support.