It is what you make of it: Covestro's new medical applications

Covestro, formerly Bayer MaterialScience, is back with materials for new and exciting medical applications.

At this year’s MD&M West in Anaheim for example, the group showcased Embr Wave, manufactured by Embr Labs, a bracelet-type wearable that is designed to act as a personal thermostat. It has been developed to stimulate a person’s thermoreceptors to use the body’s natural systems to make the wearer feel cooler or warmer by five degrees within a few minutes.

Embr Labs developed the product through prototyping and customer testing. When it came time for the production design, the company wanted to use a frosted light pipe with LEDs as the primary user interface.

Sam Shames, co-founder of Embr Labs said: “We turned to Covestro to help select the right material and optimize the design for optical performance.”

Based on the requirements, Embr Labs chose Makrolon 2407 polycarbonate. For the Embr Wave, diffusers and optical brighteners were compounded into the resin to achieve the desired visual effect.

Joel Matsco, senior marketing manager, polycarbonates – electronics and appliance, Covestro, said: “Instead of using text or symbols, colour and light are simple, minimalist — yet effective — means to convey information to the user. Covestro has deep expertise in helping brands and electronics manufacturers design with light.”

In addition, the group recently provided materials for the TransMedics Organ Care System, a system that allows an organ to function outside of the body and enables organ optimisation and assessment.

The TransMedics device aims to improve the way organs are preserved during transportation with the system delivering warm, nutrient-rich blood to the organ.

TransMedics has three OCS products – OCS Heart, OCS Lung and OCS Liver, each of which has three primary components: a portable console with a wireless monitor, a disposable perfusion set and nutrient-enriched solutions. The perfusion set’s clear enclosure protects the organ using Makrolon 2458 and Makrolon Rx1452 polycarbonates from Covestro, while the attached connectors utilize Makrolon Rx1805 polycarbonate.

John Sullivan, vice president of engineering, TransMedics said: “Makrolon polycarbonates offer the combination of transparency and toughness needed for this medical device.”

Makrolon polycarbonates for medical applications has several attributes for the OCS platform.

Lauren Zetts, Americas market manager, healthcare – polycarbonates, Covestro, said: “Safely transporting organs can literally mean the difference between life and death. It’s very gratifying that our materials play a role in helping TransMedics fulfil its mission to deliver healthy transplants in a timely manner.”