Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to the Future of Poultry podcast series.
Speaker: I'm Mark Clements, Editor-in-Chief Poultry with WhatGlobalMedia. Today on the podcast, we're going to be looking at a technology that has successfully eliminated over 99.9% of the H5N1 avian influenza virus in trials. I say we'll be looking at, but this particular technology can't actually be seen. It's ultraviolet light.
Speaker: The benefits of ultraviolet light in destroying viruses and pathogens have been known for decades, but ultraviolet light can cause skin damage and indeed eye problems. Not all ultraviolet light, however, is the same.
Speaker: And a company in Brisbane, Australia, has been working with far ultraviolet C wavelengths. Trials of its far ultraviolet C LEDs have shown them to be almost 100% effective in killing eight five n one The company carrying out this work is Solana UV.
Speaker: And to tell us more about it, I'm delighted to welcome Jimmy Wang, Solana's Director of Sales and Marketing, to today's podcast. Jimmy, welcome to the Future of Poultry podcast.
Speaker: Thank you, Mark. Thanks for having me. It's great to have you here, Jimmy. Thank you for your time today. Tell me, Solana works with UVC light sources across a variety of areas, and you say that you're pushing UV wavelengths to their limits.
Speaker: Tell us about this and this boundary pushing, if you would. Traditionally, UV-C dissipation has relied on mercury-based length, operating at 254 nm, which comes with well-known limitations.
Speaker: At Salonga, we manufacture advanced semiconductor UV-C LEDs, and we deliberately push it into a far UV-C spectrum, specifically around 235 nm. The shorter wavelength is set in what we describe as a real sweet spot.
Speaker: At 235 nm, the light is extremely effective in antibiotic viruses and bacteria, including challenging pathogens like H5N1. At the same time, the light is safely absorbed by the very outer layer of skin and the surface of the eyes, so it doesn't penetrate living tissue in the way the traditional UVC can do.
Speaker: So in environments like pyrrole tree production, we can effectively display environments without posing a risk to the animals. And how did the work with H5N1 come about? And perhaps you could also tell us about your collaboration with the University of Siena.
Speaker: Yes, so we recognized early on, Airbnb in Versailles is a grow global biosecurity challenge with serious imp implications for food supply and human health. To properly evaluate our technology against H5N1, we knew the world has to be done independently and under strict biosafety standards.
Speaker: This leads us to the University of Siena in Italy. where the testing was conducted in a certified BSL-3 laboratory to move beyond theoretical benefits and prove real-world efficacy. We had a very clear objective, generally robust, semi-quietal control data on viral interaction performance, and the result was very encouraging.
Speaker: And viral inactivation is really quick, isn't it? It's incredibly fast. The research from CNA shows our two 35-narodized AODs achieved a 99.99% of 4-logged reductions of H5N1 virus. What's truly impressive is the efficacy.
Speaker: To put into perspective, our AODs can neutralize the virus in seconds. Provide a label virus security like chemical spray simply cannot match in terms of speed and consistency.
Speaker: And the spectrum that you're working with offers no threat to birds or farm workers? That's very important question. All UVC technology needs to be applied responsibility within regulatory exposure limits.
Speaker: What differentiates from UVC is that the light is absorbed much more strongly in outer biological layers, which allow improved safety margins compared to conventional UVC virtual lamp systems.
Speaker: But we are very clear, this is not about installing lamp rendering. It's about proper design, correct dose calculations, and compliance with exposure standards. But what about the impact of uv light on materials? UV can damage plastics, for example, and there can be a lot of plastic in poultry houses.
Speaker: Yes, UV can degrade certain polymers over time. That's true for most UV-C wavelengths. However, degradation depends on wavelengths, intensities, it exposure durations, material compositions.
Speaker: In portrait environments, many plastics are already exposed to the sunlight, which contains UV. With LED-based systems, we can precisely control those and beam directions.
Speaker: Minimize unnecessary exposure to structural materials. And in many installations, such as carriers or control zones, exposure is targeted and optimized rather than break irradiations.
Speaker: So with the proper engineering material impact can be managed. And your UV spectrum works not only against the EH5N1 virus, but against a wide variety of pathogens.
Speaker: Correct. UV-C dose not rely on strength-specific biology. It disrupts nuclear acid with the last viral RNA, viral DNA, a or bacterial DNA.
Speaker: That means it is effective against influenza viruses, coronavirus, somnolidia, ecolates. The exact dose requirement varies, but the mechanism is more universal.
Speaker: So in any biosecurity program, installing your LEDs would give producers an extra layer of protection? Yes, certainly. They are farms where UVC LED technology has already been installed and is currently being trialed.
Speaker: We are targeting broader deployment across additional farm facilities by the end of this year or only next year. That sounds great. Tell me, what will be the next steps for your LEDs? When might we see them commercialized, for example?
Speaker: Well, the C&R data is a green line we are waiting for. We are now moving into the integration phase, working with equipment manufacturers to build these two certified nanomines LEDs directly into proprietary house ventilations and entry point densification systems.
Speaker: We are excited to turn this lab result into a stand-on-line defense for the industry. Well, we look forward to it Jimmy. Thank you very much for joining us to- today.
Speaker: Listeners, thank you for joining us. And don't forget to look out for future editions of the Future of Poultry podcast. Thank you, Jimmy. Thank you, Mark.
