UF Health Anesthesiology Team Devises Respirator Mask Made From Existing Hospital Materials

With respiratory masks used by health workers battling the coronavirus in short supply, the University of Florida Health’s department of anesthesiology has developed masks that can be produced in large quantities using materials already found in hospitals and medical facilities. N95 respirator masks have been in high demand worldwide since the outbreak of COVID-19. That led […]

What You Need to Know About the Possible Smell/Taste Link to COVID-19

As more anecdotes surface from physicians around the world about patients with COVID-19 losing their senses of smell and taste, we asked Steven Munger, Ph.D., director of the University of Florida Center for Smell and Taste, located within UF’s McKnight Brain Institute, what science can tell us about the potential link — and what to […]

New Lab Results From Healthtech Startup Bluewave Technologies, Inc. Indicate Ability to Kill Viruses and Bacteria on Fabrics and Other Hard-to-Treat Items – With Possible Applications in the Current Pandemic

New lab results from UF Innovate | The Hub alum Bluewave Technologies, Inc. indicate that when used as directed, its Bluewave device can effectively kill the non-enveloped virus, MS2 Bacteriophage, and Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). Bluewave Technologies is a startup focused on helping healthcare practitioners kill bacteria and viruses on the surfaces of hard-to-clean items. […]

COVID-19 Highlights Need for Blood Donations

As the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic continues to escalate, experts are warning of a dire shortage of blood as donors stay home and blood drives across the country are canceled.   People should continue to donate blood while taking appropriate precautions and following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about social distancing and hand […]

UF Researchers Lead the Way in Rapidly Designing, Building Low-Cost, Open-Source Ventilator

As a University of Florida mechanical engineering student decades ago, Samsun Lampotang, Ph.D., helped respiratory therapist colleagues build a minimal-transport ventilator that became a commercial success. So, when the coronavirus pandemic hit and he heard the desperate international plea for thousands of more ventilators, the longtime UF professor of anesthesiology set out to build a […]

Ology Bioservices, Inovio Partner To Manufacture COVID-19 DNA Vaccine With $11.9 Million Department of Defense Grant

UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech alum Ology Bioservices Inc., a biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), and Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc., a company developing DNA medicines for infectious diseases and cancer, announced that the Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded Ology Bioservices with a contract valued at $11.9 million to work with Inovio on […]

COVID-19 Expert Nursing Panel Q & A

UF startup Shadow Health, an educational technology company, facilitated a panel discussion and Q & A with the Global Nursing Education Virtual Simulation Consortium on the topic of Clinical Hour Replacement in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Learn more about COVID-19 Expert Nursing Panel Q & A.

DiaCarta SARS-CoV-2 Test Kit Receives CE Mark

Molecular diagnostic firm and UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech alum DiaCarta said that its QuantiVirus SARS-CoV-2 test recently received the CE mark. The firm has also filed for Emergency Use Authorization of the test with the US Food and Drug Administration. The company’s qRT-PCR test detects viral RNA extracted from nasopharyngeal swabs, oropharyngeal swabs, […]

Ology Bioservices, Vanderbilt University Medical Center to Develop, Manufacture Monoclonal Antibody for Treatment, Prevention of Infection With COVID-19 Virus for Department of Defense

The Department of Defense (DOD) awarded a contract valued at $14 million with UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech alum Ology Bioservices Inc., a biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), to develop and manufacture a monoclonal antibody for treatment and prevention of infection with the COVID-19 virus. This work is supported by the Office […]

Algernon Appoints Novotech As CRO for Phase 2 Coronavirus Ifenprodil Trial

UF startup Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical development company, announced that it has chosen to appoint award winning Novotech as the contract research organization (CRO) for a planned physician initiated study of NP-120 (Ifenprodil) for COVID-19 infected patients in South Korea. Novotech is an internationally recognized full service CRO known for its experience across […]