Before getting involved with Aerolamp, Vivian had been studying the safety and efficacy of far-UVC technology at Dr. Brenner’s lab at Columbia University. While conducting aerosol experiments, she noticed how many commercial lamps had short lifespans and inconsistent output. She was hindered by the very tools she and her team relied on. She turned to the OSLUV Project, an open-source engineering initiative focused on expanding access to clean indoor air technologies. Using their designs, she began 3D-printing and hand-assembling her own far-UVC lamps.
And they worked great! In fact, they worked better than any other lamp she had tried.
After learning about far-UVC from Vivian, Misha became a believer in its potential and started shopping. He planned on being a customer, not starting a company. But he quickly found how surprisingly difficult it was to actually buy a decent lamp. Vivian sent Misha one of the OSLUV lamps she had been using.
Misha's experience at his family’s small biotech company in the Midwest taught him that surprisingly often, no one will actually bother to pursue an important project, even one that will make the world a better place. So when Misha decided it was time to solve this problem, Vivian knew exactly who to introduce him to: OSLUV and their open-source far-UVC design.
The open-source lamp was the design of Rachel of Entropic Engineering–a small Minnesota-based engineering consultancy–and the OSLUV Project. Since OSLUV is a small engineering nonprofit with a narrow mission of supporting far-UVC research, not a group in a position to commit to the level of stable production and distribution needed to run a manufacturing company, Rachel teamed up with Misha and Vivian to make her design more accessible for people at scale.
