-Study Indicates 50% reduction in Spread of Droplets and Aerosols-
--Additional Applications include Personal Care Service Providers--
SAN FRANCISCO – June 30, 2021 - Dr. Alessandro Villa, an Associate Professor at UC San Francisco, and PrinterPrezz, a trailblazer in combining polymer and metal 3D printing, nanotechnologies and surgical expertise to design and manufacture next generation medical devices, today announced a partnership to produce “The Cupola,” a dome of personal protective equipment designed to reduce exposure to aerosol transmission during dental, and other aerosol generating procedures.
“To reduce the spread of the infection, especially during dental procedures, we invented “The Cupola”, a shield that creates a mechanical barrier around the patient’s head and body,” said Alessandro Villa, DDS, MPH, PhD, Chief of the Sol Silverman Oral Medicine Clinic at UCSF. “With this pilot study we aimed to assess the effectiveness of an additional layer of protection (The Cupola) developed for providers working in the oropharyngeal region.”
Providing safe oral healthcare remains challenging due to the high transmissibility of the coronavirus and how easily it may be dispersed during aerosol-generating procedures. In a series of experiments including use of a Glo-germ™ – a fluorescent resin powder under ultraviolet light detection in a darkened dental operatory – and a Lighthouse 3016IAQ airborne particle counter, use of The Cupola was shown to decreases the spread of droplets and aerosols in dental offices by close to half, which could lead to safer dental practices.
"With this project, we took the core principles of Dr. Villa's design and enhanced them for usability and scale manufacturing,,” said Alexis BC Dang, MD, Chief Medical Officer at PrinterPrezz. “Working through UCSF Innovation Ventures, we were able to iterate very quickly from the original prototype to create ergonomic production units that can be manufactured at scale."
Use of The Cupola has potential to decrease the spread of disease among dentists, maxillofacial surgeons, otolaryngologists and their patients. Advantages of The Cupola can also be applied to non-medical services that require close physical contact between service providers and customers. For example, The Cupola may be used to provide an additional layer of protection for customers and service providers in hair and nail salons to decreases the spread of droplets and aerosols.
This technology is Patent pending from UCSF has been licensed by PrinterPrezz. This new product based is available for preorder at PrinterPrezz, with limited quantities available for immediate delivery. (www.printerprezz.com)
For more details BMC Research Notes, a peer review platform for scientific research, recently published the article written by Dr. Alessandro Villa and Dr. Marlene Grenon, MD, Industry Alliance Specialist, UCSF Innovation Ventures, on The Cupola technology. Link
About UCSF:
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is exclusively focused on the health sciences and is dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It includes UCSF Health, which comprises three top-ranked hospitals, as well as affiliations throughout the Bay Area. Learn more at ucsf.edu, or see our Fact Sheet.
About UCSF Innovation Ventures:
Innovation Ventures is dedicated to helping the UCSF community navigate the complexities of translational technology development and commercialization by working up-close with our research faculty and promising students to really understand their science. Whether evaluating a new discovery, securing funding, seeking external partnerships, or starting new companies, Innovation Ventures is here to facilitate protection, development, and commercialization of novel and valuable healing inventions.
About PrinterPrezz:
PrinterPrezz’s mission is to bring more ideas for innovative medical devices to market faster, connecting medicine and manufacturing to become the first Medifacturing™ company in the world. By developing advanced medical devices using processes that combine expertise in 3D printing, orthopaedics, semiconductor and nanotechnologies, PrinterPrezz’s ultimate goal is to provide medical solutions that enable people to enjoy active lives longer. PrinterPrezz’s ecosystem aims to solve challenges for various parts of the medical innovation value chain by providing prototyping, development, and manufacturing services to create life-enhancing medical devices. Committed to ongoing compliance with ISO13485:2016 and all relevant regulatory requirements, PrinterPrezz provides customers with access to a variety of 3D printing machines, 3D manipulation software, and 3D scanners as well as advanced manufacturing processes, and surgeon education programs. Medical solutions created by PrinterPrezz are designed to enable more people to live happier and more gratifying lives. For additional information about the company, please visit www.printerprezz.com.
UCSF Contact: Marlene Grenon | [email protected]
PrinterPrezz Contact: Alexis BC Dang | [email protected]
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