The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to improve personal-use insect repellents, impacting transmission of diseases such as Lyme and Zika, and positively affecting public health. The proposed innovation will formulate a natural insect repellent within a skincare formulation that is all-natural and safe for use directly on skin, by using a novel chemistry that is both effective and attractive to use. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to use novel, natural ingredients classified as safe for cosmetics and offering superior insect repellency, compared to both the standard synthetic DEET and currently marketed natural actives, incorporating fatty acids for a sustained delivery mechanism. This project will demonstrate feasibility of a new hybrid solution by demonstrating: 1) Efficacy for insect repellency; 2) Safety skin care profile; and 3) Consumer consumption properties.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
