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Presenter says Oxyfence coating could make ordinary clothing protective
Summary
Speakers described Oxyfence, a photosensitizer-based coating that the presenter said can continuously inactivate pathogens when dried onto fabrics; they credited an EEI program and prior DARPA involvement for helping commercialize the work, though testing details and regulatory status were not specified.
A presenter described a coating technology called Oxyfence that uses photosensitizers, including methylene blue, to make ordinary clothing protective without changing its weight or thermal properties, the presenters said during a technical briefing.
The moderator set the scene by noting that protective suits and masks have changed little since the 1920s and World War II and asked whether regular clothing could be coated to provide protection while remaining comfortable. “Could we take regular clothing and could we coat it?” the moderator asked.
The presenter said Oxyfence is based on photosensitizers and methylene blue, "and the idea is by incorporating in certain materials, it has this unusual quality that's able to perpetually inactivate a range of pathogens including a bunch of viruses and bacteria," adding that early work considered spraying masks but that "when the technology dries it continuously works." The presenter framed the technology as a continuous, passive disinfecting layer applied to fabrics.
Speakers discussed commercialization challenges, saying early novelty made it hard for startups to find investors. The presenter said prior work with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) "has worked with us multiple times," which they said helped lend credibility to prospective investors. The moderator added that the EEI program helped identify investors the developers might not otherwise have reached and that the program’s support made pursuing military use cases more feasible while the company also pursued commercial markets to achieve economies of scale.
The briefing did not provide test data, regulatory approvals, investor names, funding amounts, or timelines. Claims that the coating "perpetually inactivates" pathogens were stated by the presenter in the briefing and were not independently verified in the session. The presenters described pursuing both military and commercial pathways but did not specify contracts, certification steps, or clinical or environmental testing results required for broad deployment.
No motions or formal actions were recorded during the briefing. The presenters said the EEI program had been helpful in connecting developers to investors and in supporting work on military use cases, but many technical, regulatory and funding details remain not specified in the session.
