Date: Jun 03, 2013 Source: (
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Olfactor Laboratories, Inc. (OLI), an ieCrowd company, filed for three new patents relating to the company's cutting-edge drive to develop products derived from its patent-pending compounds capable of disrupting insects' CO2 receptors -- thereby inhibiting mosquitoes' ability to detect humans.
The three new patent applications, all filed in Q1, 2013, are an expansion of OLI's technology platform into new product applications in support of scalable approaches to mitigating the spread of mosquito-borne diseases worldwide.
The patent applications include three specific and significant developments. The first includes OLI's compound mix in a new larvacide application that can be used to control the growth of insect colonies without impacting water quality or human and ecological safety. This is a significant advancement in mosquito eradication technologies currently being used around the world, and could drastically reduce the population of mosquitos in areas hardest-hit by deadly mosquito-borne diseases.
The second patent application represents a power-free mosquito trapping system used in conjunction with OLI's insect lures. This will represent a significant reduction in costs associated with existing lure-and-trap systems that require electricity -- either via battery or plug-in sources. Populations in rural areas will be capable of creating effective push-pull strategies without the need for costly electricity -- thereby expanding mosquito control efforts into regions and populations most impacted by vector-borne diseases.
The third patent application expands OLI's lure formulas with new insect baits, which mimic mosquito food sources but that cannot be digested by mosquitos. This new approach may expand the utility of lures globally and deliver a toxic blow to the mosquito population while remaining harmless to humans, other beneficial insects and animals.
Dr. Michelle Brown, OLI's chief scientist, leads the company's efforts to build products designed to advance the fight against the transfer of mosquito-borne diseases and to mitigate the impact of other harmful or nuisance insects like bed bugs, Tsetse flies, and midges.
"Our team continues to advance the science that could very well change the game in the international community's fight against Malaria, Dengue, West Nile, and other deadly diseases. These additional patent applications represent significant steps in building new products that will have the potential of saving literally millions of lives," said Dr. Brown.
OLI's work has received attention from around the world, including placement on the front cover of the journal Nature as a discovery of compounds capable of disrupting mosquitoes' CO2 receptor neurons. OLI acquired its initial intellectual property from the University of California Riverside, where the technology's early research had received significant funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
"There is no silver bullet when dealing with these global diseases spread by mosquitoes. However, we are confident that our work to make humans invisible to mosquitoes will be transformational in the broader war against mosquito-borne diseases," said Brown.
OLI is developing products that can be critical tools for push-pull campaigns -- including mosquito lures, repellents, personal protection, and now non-toxic larvacides, baits, and traps. OLI is testing a range of its technologies around the world -- including with several government agencies, non-profits, and private companies.
About Olfactor Laboratories, Inc. (OLI): OLI is developing a range of non-toxic, non-insecticidal compounds that manipulate mosquitoes' ability to detect humans and animals. OLI is using its own patent-pending compounds derived from research it acquired from the University of California and that was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). OLI has filed four patent applications in the last 12 months, and is currently working with a range of collaborators, including the governments, international companies, and non-profits, to further develop products capable of reducing or eliminating contact between mosquitoes and humans -- and creating significant advances in the war against mosquito-borne diseases. OLI is located in Riverside, CA and is a subsidiary of ieCrowd.
About Innovation Economy Crowd (ieCrowd): ieCrowd, located in Riverside, California, is a crowd-powered platform designed to build high-growth startups capable of solving global challenges. With a philosophy of "Doing Good and Doing Well," ieCrowd's mission is to acquire innovative assets and transform them into high-growth businesses powered by passionate entrepreneurs -- all with the goal of harnessing the social and economic benefits of building innovative companies capable of enhancing the lives of people around the world.
