Colleen Costello, a young biomedical engineer, is tackling hospital-acquired infections by creating bacteria-killing lights, according to an article on the CNBC website.
Costello teamed with James Peterson, an aspiring mechanical engineer and one of her college friends at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. to form a company in their senior year.
Hospitals already use ultraviolet lights to kill germs, but UV can't be used around people for prolonged periods of time, since it can cause damage to skin cells.
Costello and Peterson spent 18 months working to manipulate light to create a technology that does not harm humans. They used a mix of LED lights to create a commercially desirable solution. They tweaked the white levels to make them softer or harsher depending where they're being used, the article said.
Their company, Vital Vio, started selling the lights this fall and in New York City. Mount Sinai Hospital is testing the product.
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