BME Teaching Associate Professor Devin Hubbard and his team at the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences (NC TraCS) Institute have launched a spin-off company Aerem Innovations to produce the AerFrame, a mask frame device designed to improve the safety, comfort and fit of existing face masks. The AerFrame is reusable, can be worn over almost any type of mask and reduces the likelihood that glasses will fog.
Even with COVID-19 vaccines, Hubbard and medical professionals around the world believe that wearing masks will continue to be a part of daily life for the foreseeable future to reduce the spread of COVID-19. To that end, the Aerem team has been working hard to secure an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) [from the FDA]. The team has also worked closely with Innovate Carolina’s Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) to acquire a Carolina Express license. Aerem Innovations was selected by Innovate Carolina as one of 10 companies to participate in its Venture Catalyst Program, which identifies MBA and doctoral student fellows to work with UNC-affiliated startups. Meanwhile, Devin Hubbard received the 2020 Faculty Research Award from the UNC/NC-State Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering for his work on COVID-19 related PPE.
While COVID-19 is a unique situation, the team at Aerem Innovations plans to continue making state-of-the-art products after the pandemic is over. To that end, the product development team is already having meetings to discuss their next potential product. You can read more about Aerem on Tracs website and Innovate Carolina here.