"The Nasty-Bug catchers" by Ronald C. Trahan :

Remarkable technology that has been protecting astronauts aboard the international Space Station (ISS) since 2000 against harmful particulates and microbes is now defending a growing number of hospitals on earth, thanks to Paris-based AirInSpace. The Company recently announced that it raised $8.5 million in venture capital financing to expand its operations throughout Europe, Asia and the United States, where it has established headquarters in Sterling, Virginia.

The AirInSpace U.S. operations are led by Wade Tetsuka, President, a seasoned medical device industry executive. Tetsuka was previously President of WaveLight Inc., launching the ALLEGRETTO WAVE™ in the U.S., which became the fastest-selling excimer laser for LASIK/refractory surgery procedures from 2003 to 2006. The company was subsequently sold to Alcon, Inc. “The healthcare industry is making a full-fledged assault upon combating infections in acute care hospitals,” says Tetsuka. “AirInSpace has put a high-tech tool into the hands of hospitals for effectively and safely managing their air quality to help protect patients from airborne pathogens. We are extremely pleased that AirInSpace has introduced the PlasmairT2006 by AirInSpace as an FDA-cleared medical device, which sets us apart from the masses of other mobile ‘air cleaner’ products in the hospital market that lack this designation.”

AirInSpace CEO Laurent Fullana is a physicist by training and holds an MBA degree from Columbia University Business School. “We have something that hospitals all over the world need and want, a mobile unit that catches and inactivates harmful microbes and is substantially more cost-effective than retrofitting hospital-building HVAC systems or even deploying less efficient mobile HEPA filter units that are not able to provide any level of germicidal efficacy,” he says. “No doubt, we truly have a homerun opportunity ahead of us in the U.S.”

In less than three years, there are more than 100 hospitals in the home market of France utilizing AirInSpace devices. Indeed, over 75% of the hematology wards in French hospitals have used the Company’s devices. The technology has been tested in world-renowned labs, such as the Harvard School of Public Health and leading research/teaching hospitals around the world, for its ability to effectively and safely filter and inactivate even the most resistant airborne microorganisms. Widely utilized HEPA filter devices—both in-duct and mobile units—are able to effectively capture airborne particulates; AirInSpace’s devices achieve HEPA filtration but go a vital step further to inactivate the captured organisms