The physics of biofilm removal and practical examples

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Mohamed E. Labib is a physical chemist, inventor, and entrepreneur. He earned his PhD in physical chemistry from McGill University and an MBA from Monmouth University, and has specialized throughout his career in colloid and surface chemistry, interfacial transport, and membrane science. His early career combined academic and corporate research at RCA Laboratories, SRI International, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology before he founded NovaFlux, where he serves as Chief Executive Officer and Principal Investigator. He is also the founder of several related companies, including NovaFlux BioSciences, Advanced BioDevices, and Auresana Pharmaceuticals.

Over more than three decades, Dr. Labib has built a record that spans discovery, patent protection, and commercialization. He is a named inventor on 58 issued patents (46 U.S. and 12 international), has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications, and has served as Principal Investigator on more than 30 federally funded programs, with cumulative support exceeding $50 million from NIH, NSF, EPA, NASA, the Department of Defense, USDA, USDOT, and industrial sponsors. Five NovaFlux technologies have reached the market under his direction, including three transactions with multinational strategic acquirers: the two-phase-flow cleaning technology licensed and sold to Olympus Corporation of Japan; the NovaScope endoscope cleaning and disinfection system; and the NanoClean technology, licensed to STERIS Corporation and commercialized through two spin-offs, Protegera, whose Enamür toothpaste is now on the market, and SilvaVera, which is applying it to dermatologic applications.

Running through this work is a question Dr. Labib has pursued since 1997: how biofilm attaches to surfaces, and what it physically takes to remove it. His technologies for the physical and mechanical removal of biofilm from narrow lumens, medical devices, teeth, and skin draw on the same foundations of fluid dynamics and adhesion science. Most recently, his work on Clostridioides difficile identified the hair follicle as a reservoir for spores that survive even highly effective handwashing, leading to a new seal-based approach to blocking their transfer from the skin.