Devatha Nair PhD

About Devatha Nair, PhD:

Devatha Nair is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine who develops responsive or ‘smart’ polymers for dental and surgical biomaterials. She has earned a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and completed her postdoctoral training in Chemical and Biological Engineering. To date, her innovative approach to polymer science has led to over 30 publications, five granted patents, and over 23 patent applications throughout her career. In addition to NIH-NIDCR grants and foundation grants, most recently she is part of a team that won an Anschutz Acceleration Initiative award to commercialize antibacterial coatings developed in her lab. Her contributions to dental materials science have resulted in a new set of smart materials that have immense potential to fulfill unmet clinical needs within dental materials and other biomedical applications. The work she will present today won the NIH Proof of Concept Network Annual Meeting Innovator 2021, beating out 386 funded REACH/NCAI projects across 11 sites to win the final competition.

About Azodent:

Azodent is an early clinical stage bio-materials company developing targeted materials to treat dental caries and to incorporate these materials into dental appliances. 

Azodent is focused on the development and commercialization of our lead compound, AHA. The company’s immediate objective is the completion of biocompatibility and efficacy studies in preparation for a 510K submission. Our long-term vision is to grow Azodent into a cutting-edge materials discovery and development company that can turn novel biological insights into actionable clinical treatments.  

Azodent has designed a polymer coating that can be used to prevent biofilm accumulation and infections on implants, prostheses, catheters, and endoscopes. This technology has a wide range of potential applications in the industrial coatings market, including for non-stick coatings, touch screens, and de-icing coatings for aircraft.  

Additionally, the photo-responsive material can also selectively inhibit dental cavities-causing bacteria, and disrupt biofilms formed on it. Such genus-specific inhibition and biofilm disruptive properties within the same material are rare in dentistry, therefore the dental market is likely the initial market for this technology.