I-Corps: Development of a Business Model for a Rapid Screening Test for PFCs

消费品中的全氟化合物和多氟化合物(PFC)由于在环境中的持久性和生物积累的能力，最近受到了越来越多的关注。显然，这是一个新出现的令人担忧的化学类别，已开始努力监测其在环境和人类接触途径中的流行情况。一般来说，全氟碳化物用于防污或防水应用，如户外服装、食品包装以及地毯和室内装潢上的不粘涂层，尽管新的全氟碳化物正广泛应用于化妆品和低气味涂料。目前测量全氟碳化合物的分析方法包括溶剂萃取法、液相色谱法和串联质谱法，这些方法适用于大约70种不同的已知PFC调聚体。这些测试的成本很高(在商业测试实验室中，每个样本大约1000美元)。该项目提出了一种新的方法，用于快速、非破坏性地筛选全氟碳化物的存在，该方法可用于测量任何类型固体样品中存在的总氟。该团队提出的方法(粒子诱导伽玛射线发射)已被证明可检测各种基质(食品包装纸、纺织品、地毯等)的总氟含量。几乎是成本的二十分之一。这一努力代表着应用于消费品和环境样品的核物理分析方法的商业化。采用分析方法以最大限度地服务于社会的商业角色，是这项建议的主要智力价值。这里开发的模型将与已经开发的分析方法一样独特，并可能作为未来衍生技术的模型。在消费品和环境样品中全氟碳化物的检测方面，拟议的工具可以彻底改变检测行业。优化这一模式将使PFC检测的分析成本得到最大程度的降低，并将允许更多的制造商、零售商、监管机构和消费者团体检测对人类健康构成风险的PFC。

Per- and polyfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in consumer products have come under increasing scrutiny recently, because of their persistence in the environment and their ability to bioaccumulate. Clearly, this is an emerging chemical class of concern, and efforts have begun to monitor its prevalence in both the environment and in human exposure pathways. Generally PFCs are used in stain- or water-resistant applications, such as outdoor clothing, food packaging, and non-stick coatings on carpets and upholstery, although new PFCs are becoming prevalent in cosmetics and low-odor paints. Current analytical methods for measuring PFCs involve solvent extraction, liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry for about 70 different known PFC telomers. These tests are costly (on the order of $1000 per sample in commercial testing labs. This project proposes a novel method that has been developed for screening for the presence of PFCs in a rapid, non-destructive way that can be used to measure the total fluorine present in any type of solid sample.The team's proposed method (Particle-Induced Gamma-ray Emission) has been demonstrated to detect total fluorine content on a variety of matrices (food-wrapping papers, textiles, carpets, etc.) at nearly 1/20th of the cost. This effort represents the commercialization of an analytical method in nuclear physics applied to consumer products and environmental samples. The adaption of analytical methods to best serve a commercial role in society is the primary intellectual merit of this proposal. The model developed here will be as unique as the analytical method already developed, and may serve as a model for future spin-off technologies. The proposed tool can revolutionize the testing industry with respect to testing for PFCs in consumer products and environmental samples. Optimizing this model will allow for the best price reduction in analytical costs for PFC detection, and will allow more manufacturers, retailers, regulatory agencies and consumer groups to test for PFCs that represent a risk to human health.