By bringing medical-devices standards to bear on the humble pillow, Gabriel Scientific has created a revolutionary product with huge commercial value, writes CLAIRE O'CONNELL
AS YOU SETTLE down to sleep tonight, try not to spare a thought for what might be sharing your bed with you. Bedding can be home to a range of biological dwellers, including bacteria, fungal spores and tiny creatures.
At best, that’s a disquieting notion, and more practically, it can pose problems in hospitals for infection control, in hotels for infestation and in the home for people with sensitivities such as allergies to dust mites.
But Dublin-based company Gabriel Scientific – overall winner of The Irish Times InterTrade Ireland Innovation Awards 2012 – has come up with technology to help win the pillow fight against bugs.
“Mattresses, cushions, duvets and particularly pillows are identified in the literature as reservoirs of potential vectors for infection and infestation,” says David Woolfson, co-founder and chief executive of Gabriel Scientific.
“The interior of a pillow or a mattress or a duvet is almost like a Petri dish for bacteria – if you wanted to grow bacterial cultures you could do it very successfully in a warm piece of foam that was moist and in a hospital environment.”
The pillow is a particular flashpoint because of its position, he adds: “A pillow is at a point of high vulnerability; your nose, your mouth, your ears, your eyes are points of ingress into the body.”
Pillows currently used in healthcare settings aim to reduce the potential risk by using textiles that can block out the bugs, but the Achilles’ heel can lie in stitching, which can allow pathogens, or disease-causing organisms, in and out, explains Woolfson.
“Seams are sewn, and the needle perforations and the thread can absorb liquid-borne pathogens, and airborne pathogens can pass through the pore size created by needles on the stitches.”
Just about everything else relating to the hospital bed – including the frame and mattress – is subject to medical devices standards, but not the pillow or duvet, according to Woolfson. “We thought it was the elephant in the room,” he says.
Several years ago, the company’s co-founder and director Billy Navan, who was in the hospital supplies business, became aware of the problem and asked Woolfson to look into it.
Woolfson was well versed in the area of bedding, having been heavily involved in the family business, Kayfoam Woolfson. And at the time, he was doing a doctorate in classical philosophy at Trinity so was in a research frame of mind.
The patented technology that evolved, PneumaPure, uses a micro-porous membrane laminate on pillows, duvets, mattresses and cushions.
The textile itself is based on a material used in medical devices called stents that are implanted into blood vessels, but the company has adapted the material so that it keeps bugs from getting into the interior of the pillow.
“We devised a way of sealing it onto cushioning devices, which were hermetically sealed,” explains Woolfson.
“The only way air can pass in and out is through a filter, and the textile itself is vapour permeable; it’s akin to typical outdoor performance textiles. And once you have the technology locked down, you can apply it to pretty much any cushioning device.”
The resulting pillows save on laundry and replacement and have stacked up well in microbiological tests, according to Woolfson.
One was at Cherry Orchard Hospital in Dublin, which evaluated Gabriel Scientific’s pillows and the standard issue.
“We sent in a couple of hundred of our pillows, and they were sampled every few weeks,” says Woolfson. “Ours were contamination free on the inside, but the [other] pillows were riddled with nasties. They condemned every pillow in the hospital and replaced them with our product.”
A more recent trial in major London hospitals also came up trumps for the company.
“Of the pillows sampled by microbiology, ours were entirely contamination-free on the inside. But in the pillows from the supplier, over 70 per cent had interior contamination. There was a huge difference,” says Woolfson.
Gabriel Scientific products are now being supplied to hospitals around Europe, and the company is ramping up the home-consumer side.
“We have a textile that looks medical and feels medical on the outside for hospitals,” says Woolfson. “And we put a lot of work into developing a textile that had a much nicer feel for [domestic] consumers – it has a satiny finish but, functionally, it is the exact same as the medical pillow.”
This week an “upscale product” will become available through the John Lewis website, and Gabriel Scientific has just closed a deal with a major supplier to home shopping networks in Japan. The company has also been designated as a High Potential Start-Up (HPSU) by Enterprise Ireland.
Another offshoot opened up when the company’s technical and research director, Dr Duncan Bain, started using a mattress with a PneumaPure cover at home for his dogs.
“His neighbour has one of the largest vet supply companies in the UK and told him that in vet practices after they have operated on a pet they have to throw out the little mattress,” says Woolfson. So the company is now moving towards supplying veterinary practices.
They also have their eye squarely on hotels, particularly in the US, where bedbug infestation has been an escalating issue.
“The one area we haven’t had the resources or the time to go and tackle is hotels,” says Woolfson. But he adds that the company will be hitting a major trade show in the US this month. “We can’t get over there fast enough.”
Once you have the technology locked down, you can apply it to pretty much any cushioning device
Ireland's creative future what the president said
THE CONCEPT OF a society that's creative in all aspects, not only cultural, is at the heart of the real Republic, according to President Michael D Higgins. During his keynote speech at last week's Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation awards, Mr Higgins said: "Now, more than ever, innovation matters. And at the heart of innovation is creativity – creative people being fully alive to the opportunities and possibilities which surround them and having the vision and the drive to convert them into tangible outcomes. For me, the concept of a creative society, creative in every aspect, is at the heart of the real Republic to which I aspire.
"We know that those organisations that can adapt to customer needs, incorporate new research and technologies into their operations and optimise the productivity and potential of their employees are most likely to pull away from their competitors, gain market share and be better placed for sustainable growth."
Speaking at last week's awards event at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin, Mr Higgins said: "We must look to developing a highly competitive, sustainable business environment based on an innovative, enterprising business culture; it must also be a business culture that is ethical in outlook and that operates on the premise of being part of – and not apart from – wider society. The lesson of recent years is that a business culture whose sole purpose is the short-term gratification of profit maximisation is not sustainable. Its inevitable failure not only destroys enterprise itself but has a corrosive impact on the wider community.
"Critical to achieving success through innovation is a drive for new ideas. I have previously said that I want my term in office to be a Presidency of ideas. Ideas matter; conversations around ideas assist the development of good practice; and the outworking of good ideas make a positive impact on the economy and society.
"Now is the time for all of us – especially business people – to contribute to the debate about the economic model that will guide Ireland in the future.
Innovation can be applied to all aspects of economic life – products, services, processes and workplace structures. Innovation can also occur in all industries and sectors. I believe that the range of innovations showcased is a
very positive indicator of how the knowledge, skills and creativity of our people are being translated into valuable processes, products and services. I particularly welcome the inclusion of the Public Service among the categories as it recognises that innovation and creativity are qualities to be found and celebrated in all sectors of the economy.
The President presented the overall Innovation prize to Gabriel Scientific.
Now, more than ever, innovation matters. And at the heart of innovation is creativity
