From development to production
The idea of the cooling pants won over an innovative Swiss SME.
Unico swiss tex GmbH, based in Alpnachstad, Canton Obwalden,
recently bought from Empa the rights to produce cooling garments
– so called Cool Pads – for MS sufferers, among other
users. These products will become available in 2007. Very recently
too, a joint study under Empa leadership has begun at the
Rehabilitation Clinic in Valens to investigate the suitability of
the cooling pants for everyday usage and their effectiveness.
«We are working continuously with Markus Hess of Unico
swiss tex GmbH to further improve the system», says
Rothmaier. One aspect of this is the search for materials with
improved stretching properties which are easier to tailor. In
addition plans are afoot to design cooling garments for other parts
of the body, for the greater the cooled body area and the nearer it
is to the wearer’s head, then the greater the evaporative
cooling effect. Whether, in addition to the extremities, cooling
the torso could also have beneficial effects in reducing MS
symptoms is not yet certain and must first be clarified with
elaborate tests. Rothmaier’s team is preparing designs for
suitable cooling garments for this purpose, to be presented in a
few months.
Honored with the Serono Charity Grant 2006
The simple but extremely effective Empa idea was awarded the
Serono Charity Grant 2006 at the beginning of September. Serono, a
biotech company based in Geneva, is a pioneer in the fight against
multiple sclerosis, offering an established therapeutic product to
treat this progressive disease. The Serono Golf Charity, held for
the third time in Ascona, collected over CHF150,000 of which the
goodly sum of CHF25,000 was awarded to the Empa cooling garments
project.
Editor:
- Martina Peter, Communications Dept., Tel. +41 44 823 49
87,
E-mail
Further technical information:
- Dr. Markus Rothmaier, Protection and Physiology Laboratory,
Tel. +41 71 274 72 44,
E-mail
- Markus Hess, UNICO swiss tex GmbH, Alpnachstad, Tel. +41 41 671
00 71,
E-mail:
- Bruno Waller, Serono Pharma Switzerland, Tel. +41 41 748 00
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