UNM Rainforest Innovations 2020 Innovation Fellow

19th Aug 2020

UNM Rainforest Innovations 2020 Innovation Fellow

UNM Innovation Fellow motivated by impacting the world positively

Recently, David Whitten, University of New Mexico, was named the UNM Rainforest Innovations 2020 Innovation Fellow. His target for innovation? How compounds function and their applications as antimicrobials. The interesting part of this regarding innovation is “application” and “function”…

Whitten’s work combats two of the biggest threats to humans in the 21 st century: antibiotic resistance and spread of infectious disease. Most infectious microbes stick to surfaces for several hours and can infect numerous organisms in a short period of time through physical contact. Standard disinfection works well when microbes are in suspension, but those methods don’t work as well with “sticky” microbes.

Whitten and his collaborators have created unique coatings that can trap, capture, and kill pathogens (bad microbes) without contributing to antibiotic resistance! Their coatings are low toxicity to humans and animals compared to some existing disinfection methods. So, it’s a win-win for the world.

“In partnership with his students and collaborators, Whitten’s innovations and discoveries have the potential of impacting the health of our community and those all around the world. This extraordinary pursuit is just one of the many reasons Dave Whitten was chosen as a 2020 Innovation Fellow.”

Congratulations to Dr. Whitten and his colleagues. We recognize your innovative approaches to real life problems. Thank you!

Innovation is important – it makes the world a better place.

http://news.unm.edu/news/david-whitten-honored-as-2020-stc-unm-innovation-fellow

Photo Credit: http://news.unm.edu