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Ultraviolet
Disinfection Technologies: The History & Development of MolecuCare
About
the Founder...
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History
of MolecuCare
The company's
initial technology developments were inspired by extensive
review of nosocomial or "hospital acquired"
infection in 1988. Various explorations into ultraviolet
germicidal irradiation led to tests of the company's
"Biophysics Germicidal Integration Chamber" at Yale
University School of Medicine's Department of Molecular
Biophysics and Biochemistry (William Konigsberg, Ph.D.,
Departmental Chair, presiding) and at the AMSCO Corporation
(1992-1994), then the largest U.S. manufacturer of sterilizer
and operating room equipment (J.P. Dalmasso, Ph.D., Director
of Microbiology, presiding).
Included in the
development program was a study of current practices in the
use of ultraviolet and a review of current theories and
studies involving application of ultraviolet irradiation to
sterilization. In addition, a study of infection or
"prevention-failure" rates was undertaken: the
company focused on method reliability and long term cost
effectiveness as the backbone of its technology development.
The "A-MOP" first surface' sterilizer developed
around MolecuCare's proprietary "Quantum Dose"
ultraviolet technology was tested against all other methods,
including several high intensity ultraviolet lamps, for
sterilization of dental prosthetics, at the Dental School of
Loma Linda University. A formal test affidavit report
indicated the A-Mop removed all bacteria from tested dental
inlays of many configurations; all other ultraviolet
irradiation used in the tests failed by considerable margins.
The company developed an ultraviolet germicidal irradiation
technology which accelerated the "kill physics" for
various airborne vectors, including spores and fungi, while
quantifying consistent control parameters, a significant
advance in air disinfection standards. By 1995, patented OPTON
Mold Removal Air Disinfection Chamber ©
systems for molecular air disinfection had evolved. Founded in
the destruction of airborne microorganisms at the molecular
level, the OPTON Chamber uses physics to enhance molecular
induced changes with a quantitative control method. Initial
roll-away production model consoles - now
the
Model H-10 AIRGuard Console - were placed in hospital
beta sites in New York and Florida in late 1995.
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Early
roll-away model of the Model H-10 AIRGuard Console
in beta site testing in the drug resistant TB/HIV Intensive
Care Isolation unit of a Bronx, New York, hospital in 1996.
The
H-10 is hospital service rated for 10,000 cubic feet (e.g., a
20 x 50 x 10' space), killing all virus, spore and bacteria
including Staphylococcus and the smallest microorganisms not
caught in filters. H-10s are used in TB Risk Bay and Emergency
Room service, Surgery, and in AIDS-care residences in New York
and Florida. H-10 floor consoles were tested in extensive
protocols designed to eliminate air movement alone as a
contributor to microbe kill by dehydration, Jerry Nelson,
Ph.D., presiding, Director of Nelson Laboratories, Salt Lake
City, Utah.
The
H-10's output ranges of 450/950 CFM feature regular On/Off
cycle with room occupancy override or optional auto-selective
environment control. Hospital grade components include toggle
fusing, heavy duty grounded 115V line cord and 6-caster swivel
base plate mounting for safe unit balance and ease of
movement. Heavy gauge aluminum construction, weight 210 lbs,
quiet needle bearing centrifugal fan, intake air dust filter,
services air volume rating in 15 minutes.
Designed for hospital, clinic, physician waiting room,
vaccine & health related general service and quarantine,
and flu control in any area.
See
Hospital
/ Clinical Systems
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Microbiological
warfare tests of the company's first molecular air
disinfection equipment (roll-away consoles for clinical use)
were completed in 1997. Performed at an independent ISO
9001/EN45001 Certified commercial laboratory, these tests were
designed to eliminate the false-positive kill effects of air
movement commonly attributed to equipment performance. Each
test consisted of ten minute passes of artificially high
density challenges of colony-forming viruses, spores,
bacteria, and fungi, including Aspergillus niger. Contaminant
sizes ranged down to smaller (0.025 micron) than the sieving
capabilities of HEPA filters.
The
resulting numerous patented disinfection technologies evolved
into the OPTON Mold Removal Air Disinfection Chamber and
the OPTON system, providing the world's first and only true
clinical standard whole building air disinfection capability.
Designed for healthcare applications, proven OPTON Chamber use
in the system introduced a defense method to the increasing
incidence of "sick building" airborne mold spore
pollution: Sequential OPTON Chamber roll-in/roll-out
"trains" introduced PAR™
Portable Air Remediation© to
provide immediate safe access for "sick building"
remediation personnel while central air [forced-air HVAC]
systems are being modified for permanent installation of OPTON
Chambers in the HVAC systems.
These
"microbe incinerator" trains combine multiple Chambers
with powerful blowers mounted on mobile platforms, allowing
immediate emergency placement and use in any building. The
trains can be located as needed throughout a building and used
with or without an operating central air system. Leading IAQ
[indoor air quality] engineering firms view the OPTON PAR
Portable Air Remediation system as an unprecedented tool for
emergency indoor air management and preparation.
In 2001,
MolecuCare patented the world's first combination water and
air disinfection system: in 2003, Canada issued a patent for
MolecuCare's new OPTON Chamber (now
AstroStream™) water sterilization
technology.
About the Founder
MolecuCare was founded by Chicago native Arthur L. Matschke
{"match-key"} with a forty-year history of invention,
patents and technical achievements in the fields of fiber-optics
[Armour Research Foundation, Reactor Section], auto-focus
cameras and 35-MM additive color printers, optical tooling for
infra-red and aerial reconnaissance, the Powers aerial camera,
the T-35 tank fire control, glass & lens manufacturing [Bell
& Howell Co.], color TV tube technological improvement
[Zenith Radio Corporation], ultra high-speed dot-matrix print
head advancements [Baudex Corp.], and numerous related
automation & manufacturing processes.
Matschke has also served as a technological consultant to the
Buick Division of General Motors, Teletype, Minneapolis
Honeywell, Crane, AMF, Ford, General Electric and other
companies; he also served as Corporate Director of Product
Development at the thirty-one company conglomerate Alloys
Unlimited, Inc. As a consultant he oversaw construction of the
first paneled glass manufacture air-claving plant in the U.S. at
Globe Glass [licensed utilizing the St. Gobain process] to
produce panels used globally as structural components in large
buildings, as well as panels used for sound proofing at Kennedy
Space Center, where one of his patented devices for ‘multi-pin
solderless' connectors for space-flight requirements regularly
leaves Earth with this essential component aboard.
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After
a personal surgical experience in 1990, our founder
focused on the global problem of inadequate air &
surgical implement disinfection plaguing the hospital
& healthcare industries, ("nosocomial"
or hospital-acquired infections). In the years
since, MolecuCare has developed and patented the
world's leading air and water disinfection
technologies, while also focusing on continued
improvement of surgical and dental implement
sterilization as well as other hospital, surgical, and
intensive care/isolation disinfection and
sterilization needs.
Art Matschke also developed an ad hoc sterilization
chamber for use in surgical procedures; examples are
select organ transplant and foreign element bodily
introduction (e.g., Pacemaker, valve, bone joint,
invasive dental prosthetic, etc).
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This chamber, which he commends as his most
rewarding personally, is the world's only instantaneous
access-recovery ("instant in and out")
sterilization chamber. The six-second cycle chamber, proven in
exhaustive independent laboratory tests and studies, is subject
to FDA trial completion halted by Matschke during his absence
due to illness.
This device was proclaimed by the Loma Linda
University Dental School the only "100% kill method, bar
none, of dental prosthetics' and dental burr microbe
presence". A single mention of this device created the
largest volume reader response to date to a dental journal
article review... Current information on the MolecuCare
six-second-cycle Prosthetix©
article disinfection unit is at "Products and Programs
Background", here Air
Disinfection.
Continuous refinements of other MolecuCare
ultraviolet disinfection technologies have resulted in numerous
applications, including whole-building clinical grade air
disinfection & water sterilization products, and specialized
laboratory and mobile emergency bioprotection systems.
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