Testing of an Innovative Antimicrobial Solution in a Clinical Environment

Aereus Technologies Inc. is a Toronto-based, start-up company that has developed a novel process for coating wood, plastics and metals (or other surfaces) with copper. The benefit of the copper coating is that copper is known to have intrinsic antimicrobial properties. A variety of copper-coated products have been developed by Aereus including: chair arms, door handles door push plates, ceramic floor tiles and wood siding. Other non-copper alloys in a variety of colours may also be impregnated through the Aereus process. Aereus is working with George Brown College to evaluate the effectiveness of their coating process in reducing contaminants in a clinical environment. This will involve deploying and evaluating Aereus product(s) in the Clinical Dental Facilities of the college. Student researchers from the School of Dental Health will follow a swabbing methodology, collecting samples from the surfaces coated with Aereus’ product (and their corresponding control group surfaces) and will document their findings. This project is funded by NSERC. The project is led by Principal Investigator Corrine Johnson, PhD, Director, Health Sciences and by Co-Investigators Sally Choi, Manager, Community Services and Health Sciences and Catherine Ranson, Faculty, Community Services and Health Sciences.