NMSU student
Hae-Na Chung wears the BugBling™ band developed by Energy Related Devices
and tested by NMSU
professor Immo Hansen as part of his research into mosquito repellents.
(Courtesy photo)
(January 23, 2016) A
New Mexico State University professor is collaborating with a New Mexico
company and Arrowhead Center through the New Mexico Small Business Assistance
program to test the efficacy of a mosquito repellent wristband that promises to
be more effective than other commercially available repellents. The BugBling™
band has different active ingredients compared to other mosquito repellent
bands on the market.
Through the NMSBA program, Immo Hansen, an associate
professor of biology in NMSU’s College of Arts and Sciences, has been the
subject matter expert working with Bob Hockaday, president of Energy Related
Devices/eQSolaris to test the BugBling™ band. Energy Related Devices/eQSolaris
is also a client of the Arrowhead Technology Incubator at Arrowhead Center.
Hansen and his research assistant Stacy Rodriguez tested the
product with two experimental setups. Two band prototypes - one containing
citronella and DEET, and the other containing oil of lemon eucalyptus and DEET
- were tested using a Y tube and a taxis cage setup. The second test used a
wind tunnel at NMSU to standardize airflow. Hansen said both prototypes were
highly effective at reducing mosquito attraction.
The efficacy of both prototypes of the BugBling™ band were
compared to two commercially available products – Invisiband and OFF ClipOn.
The result: the effect of both BugBling™ bands were stronger than the two other
products.
“The BugBling™ band strongly repels mosquitoes and proved to
be superior compared to the other devices we tested,” Hansen said. “In fact, it
was the only device that had a significant effect in our tests.”