Description:
X-ray energy use to remedy viral and/or bacterial infections
Inventors: Michael Pravica
Pravica: Professor in physics and a member of HiPSEC (High Pressure and Engineering Center). He received his Ph.D. in experimental condensed matter physics in 1998 from Harvard University and a B.S. in physics and applied mathematics in 1988 with honors from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). His expertise includes: Explosives, High Pressure Science, Raman, Infrared, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and X-ray Spectroscopies, Accelerator Physics
The Invention:
Propose using tuned/fixed energy penetrating and highly ionizing hard x-rays in the 7- 100 keV energy range to irradiate patients who are suffering from viral (e.g. COVID) and/or bacterial infections (e.g. pneumonia). The x-rays will target specific compounds/sites in viruses and/or bacteria with an aim to create highly localized (few angstroms) molecular damage that will inactivate the virus and/or kill the bacteria in question. The goal here is to reduce the viral or bacterial load on the patient to give their immune system a better shot to break the infection.
Benefits:
- Resonance absorption of select x-rays that initiate targeted and highly localized molecular damage to kill specific molecules/organelles inside viruses or bacteria that constitute the patient's infection.
- This effort is in situ which means it should have rapid effect.
Market Opportunity:
The market for X-Ray machine manufacturing is on the rise in the US with a current revenue of
$10.2B. Furthermore, the industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.4%between 2023 and 2028. Factors impacting this market include rise in product development, increased funding, and government investments.
Intellectual property
Concept