SANUWAVE Announces Collaboration with NASA for the Mitigation of Bacterial Biofilms Formed in the Water Processor Assembly used on International Space Station (ISS) and for Future Moon Base and Mars Colony

Suwanee, Ga - (NewMediaWire) - July 29, 2021 - SANUWAVE Health, Inc. (OTCQB: SNWV), announces collaboration with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).  One of the most important objectives of this decade for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the restart of missions to the Moon to establish a Lunar Base.  This is just the first step for further exploration of other celestial bodies and resources, with the focus on Mars, where the First Human Mars Colony will be constructed in the following decades.  The initial training and observation of the influence of extraterrestrial non-gravitational or low gravitational environment on the human body for long periods of time was done onboard of the International Space Station (ISS), where a plethora of cosmonauts from all over the World spent significant time for the last three decades.

The closed loop Water Recovery System (WRS) is essential for the ISS and any Lunar Base or Mars Colony, to provide sufficient water supply for their human inhabitants.  Many different technologies have been proposed as solutions to provide nearly total water recovery for long duration space craft missions.  However, one of the lessons gathered from the ISS has been biofilm-related issues observed in the WRS and its main component called the Water Processor Assembly (WPA) that produces potable water from a combination of humidity condensate and urine distillate.  The ISS experience has shown that the WPA is a hazard to the WRS and has an increased risk for bacterial biofilm formation that ultimately produce WRS failures.  This issue is magnified for future NASA manned missions due to the need to place the vehicle’s life support system in a dormant state during non-crew operations (e.g. when the vehicle is in Mars orbit during the surface mission).

SANUWAVE is proud to announce that it was selected as one of the companies that can help with the mitigation of the bacterial biofilms formed inside the WRS.  SANUWAVE’s proprietary shockwave technology, which is a highly mechanical energy, will be used to test the detachment, destruction, and ultimately prevention of biofilms formation.  Our Company has proven in numerous studies performed at the Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE) at Montana State University, which is the US main research center for bacterial biofilms, that shockwave technology is capable of the elimination of various Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial biofilms.

Our approach toward mitigation of the bacterial biofilms formed inside the WRS, was recently presented at the International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), July 12-15, 2021, as part of the published paper titled “Biofilm Management in a Microgravity Water Recovery System.”  Dr. Iulian Cioanta, SANUWAVE’s Chief Science and Technology Officer, presented in this paper the design of the experimental approach to test the use of shockwaves for the bellows tank, where the biofilms form usually in the WRS.  Based on the existing experimental results, it is believed that the short periodic exposure to only shockwaves or in combination with any other anti-bacterial and/or anti-biofilm technologies, will prevent the biofilm formation, remove patchy biofilms, and reduce the overall free bacteria implementing population in the WRS aboard the ISS.

The experimental design presented in the paper at the ICES 2021 conference will be used in a grant awarded by NASA to systematically assess the shockwave technology influence on the biofilms formed in the water tank of the WPA from the WRS.  This research work will be done at the SANUWAVE’s research laboratory and also at CBE, which is one of the main partners for us and also the leading facility that is performing the biofilm work for NASA. 

SANUWAVE has patented the use of its proprietary shockwave technology in non-medical fields, such as energy (improved/enhanced oil recovery), water processing (particulate separation), food (bacterial reduction), and biofilm removal (underwater structures cleaning).  Patent applications are filed on pipes sludge and scale removal, freezing desalination, membranes cleaning, sludge dewatering, and air/fluid interface materials cleaning.  The Company has performed successful confirmatory testing on water cleaning, using an in-house small-scale prototype, and on both medical and non-medical biofilm removal at Center for Biofilm Engineering from Montana State University (MSU). 

Dr. Iulian Cioanta commented, “The use of the shockwaves system proposed by SANUWAVE should be suitable for both dormant (no crew on board) and non-dormant periods, as well as being operated for short time periods at set time intervals, as will be determined from the feasibility testing that will be performed as part of the NASA grant.  The shockwaves system design was done to easily integrate with the existing ISS WRS hardware.  This includes avoiding air entrapment, adding only minimum weight for additional components, easy access to the main components for a rapid exchange in case of failure, and reduce crew involvement in system maintenance or recovery from dormant periods.  The shockwaves system has completely non-movable parts, which increase longevity that is important for extraterrestrial structures.”

Kevin Richardson II, the CEO of SANUWAVE, added, “Clean water is crucial for NASA human inhabited structures, and this is why it needs to be recycled.  As we know water weight is super high, which prohibits the hauling of it on periodic rocket launches from Earth.  This is why the WRS is crucial to the future success of NASA missions to Moon and Mars.  The use of shockwaves is simple and efficient and can be combined with other technologies to produce increased efficiency in the elimination and prevention of bacterial biofilms formed inside such a closed-loop system.  We are proud to be selected by NASA to be one of their partners and we are looking forward to delivering successful solutions.  This work will be used for future development of commercial application for water mitigation, cleaning and disinfection.”

About SANUWAVE Health, Inc.

SANUWAVE Health (OTCQB:SNWV) is focused on the research, development, and commercialization of its patented, Energy First non-invasive and biological response-activating medical systems for the repair and regeneration of skin, musculoskeletal tissue, and vascular structures.

SANUWAVE's end-to-end wound care portfolio of regenerative medicine products and product candidates help restore the body's normal healing processes. SANUWAVE applies and researches its patented energy transfer technologies in wound healing, orthopedic/spine, plastic/cosmetic and cardiac/endovascular conditions. For more information, please visit www.SANUWAVE.com.

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