Charles University technology spin off LAM X a.s. founded

The name LAM X L ight A ctivated M aterials directly reveals purpose of the newly founded
company, which is to develop light activated, antimicrobial materials based on nanofibers and
nanoparticles capable of active defence against a wide range of pathogens. By founding
LAM X, we want to support the group of Assoc. Prof. Mosinger and make it more dynamic.
His tea m comes with a material that has a potential to revolutionise treatment and healing of
wounds, says Otomar Sláma, director of Charles University Innovations Prague (
subsidiary of the Charles University.

CUIP and i&i Prague a biotechnology incubato r of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and
Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences have been preparing the creation of LAM X
since 2018. The spin off is going to enable a more efficient utilisation of its technologies and
make them more available to industrial partners, manufacturers, and distributors. This project
already piqued my attention several years ago when I had the opportunity to compare its
quality with similar start ups founded e.g. in California. It stood head and shoulders above its
competitors thanks to both its ingenuity and obtained results. Apparently, I wasn't the only
one, since we already have several potential customers among manufacturers of healthcare
products, summarise s Dr. Jaromí r Zahr ádka, CEO of i&i Prague.
The founding partners CUIP and i&i Prague share pilot funding of the project. Subsequently, additional resources are going to be provided via research grants and other finances from investors and strategic partners.
 

Technology Beyond Medicine

According to Assoc. Prof. Jiří Mosinger leader of the LAM X research team the main advantage s of their technology are specific properties of used photoactive materials that allow highly efficient elimination of a broad spec trum of pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses and he sees its potential application in the field of human medicine and sterilisation techniques
Efficiency of the LAM X technology has been proven in a clinical study focused on a
treatment of venous ulcers Therefore, their priority product is a nanomembrane intended as
a protection against secondary infections of open wounds. Due to a high antiseptic activity of
singlet oxygen generated by the membrane after activation with visible light, there is no risk
of odevelopment of antimicrobial resistance. Thus, LAM X addresses the emerging world wide
crisis of increasing resistance of microbes to antibiotics.

Our new technology can be used not only in the health sector, but also in the field of
packaging materials and filtration systems, concludes Dr. Roman Chaloupka, chairman of
the board of directors of the new company.
 

Supporting Commercialisation of Research

LAM X is a second spin off company founded by CUIP. In less than two years of its existence, CUIP managed to establish a cooperation with more than 20 domestic and foreign subjects, sell patents even to overseas companies and close licensing contracts for almost 10 technologies.

It is another milestone in fulfilling the third role of university. I am very pleased that
technology of a new university spin off comes from our faculty, said Prof. Jiří Zima, dean of
the Faculty of Science of the Charles University. The faculty is entitled to a part of company's
generated profit and intends to invest it back into science and research.

Charles University Innovations Prague s.r.o.

CUIP is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Charles University founded in June 2018. It is a
research and knowledge dissemination organisation, whose primary goal is to widely
disseminate results created at the Charles University and to secure utilisation of intellectual
prop erty of the Charles University in the field of research and development and its use for
business, industrial, and other similar purposes, i.e. their commercialisation. CUIP can
establish or buy shares in spin off companies in order to commercially utilise intellectual
property of the Charles University. Within this field, CUIP closely cooperates with the Centre
for Knowledge and Technology Transfer of the Charles University, which is a standalone part
of the Charles University and provides services and info rmation supporting the transfer of
knowledge and technology.

i&i Praue s.r.o.

Prague is a biotechnology incubator founded in 2017 by the Institute of Organic Chemistry
and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences. It support s scientific projects focused
on technology in the field of medicine, biotechnologies, diagnostics, or drug development. It helps with commercialisation of projects where it leads and plans their business growth, seeks partners, and provides marketing. In three years of its ex istence, i&i Prague managed to analyse over 70 projects originating mainly in Central Europe. Currently, it incubates over 30
projects, while 10 projects have been already successfully commercialised in form of a license
agreement or a spin off. i&i Prague became the major investor of the LAM X company.