FORT COLLINS — Fort Collins startup company Aerosol Devices Inc., which produces a device to capture airborne biological microbes without damaging them, has outgrown its space in the Colorado State University Powerhouse Energy Campus and has moved to a new facility and added staff.

The company, formed in 2014, is now based at 217 Racquette Drive. It employs 11 people to accommodate growth that accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic and the publication of an article by the University of Florida that demonstrated the ability of the company’s devices to capture viable COVID particles in a hospital setting.

Viability is important when researchers work to determine the RNA and DNA of the particles and thus can determine how a particular virus has spread.

“We’ve doubled the sales of research grade instruments since April, and it’s still growing,” said Pat Keady, president of the company. Each machine sells for about $40,000 and is typically used in a research lab and not a clinical environment.

The company technology has captured the attention of researchers as well as federal agencies that provide grants. While the grants received or anticipated are all COVID related, Keady said that the equipment is not limited to the current pandemic.

“What if we applied this to influenza?” she asked. Could nursing homes be doing things more proactively” to prevent spread of that disease?

Aerosol Devices can be used for any airborne particle. Prior to COVID, the company’s primary customer base involved air pollution. “What we breathe matters,” she said.

Keady, a mechanical engineer by training and experience, said her company is developing a number of iterations of the technology including real-time analysis of airborne samples and a breathalyzer product that has the potential of being able to test visitors at nursing homes or children in schools. 

As part of its expansion, the company has hired multiple new staff members, including Tanya Jamision as chief marketing officer, Mark Schleiger as director of operations and Robert Sanchez as a production technician.

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