Airmid Healthgroup’s Dr. Matthew Hardwick will join tomorrow’s “UV LEDs for Healthcare” webinar, hosted by UVSAFE, to discuss one of the fastest-moving questions in infection prevention: can germicidal UV testing keep pace with the technology it’s meant to validate?
The live session takes place September 10th at 10:00am ET and pairs Dr. Hardwick, a microbiologist and Scientific Consultant at Airmid Healthgroup, with Amy Hedrick, CEO and Founder of Cleanbox Technology, in a discussion hosted by Babak Adeli of Watersprint. Together they’ll cover UVC device adoption in healthcare, the process of validation testing, and the standards and regulations that govern germicidal UV claims, along with the differences between legacy bulb-based and LED form factors and what those differences mean for testing and procurement. There will be an open Q&A at the end.
Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_eK0U_ZpcRzus2oc8KSRI3Q#/registration
Why Germicidal UV Testing Matters Right Now
UVC LED technology has moved quickly from an emerging technology into a growing component of commercial germicidal UV (GUV) products. That growth raises the central question Dr. Hardwick will put to the panel: are our testing methodologies, standards, and regulatory pathways keeping pace with the technology itself?
Answering that means asking three more specific questions of any GUV device: does it actually deliver the antimicrobial effect it claims (performance), can that performance be demonstrated reproducibly (validation), and does the evidence behind it support the claims being made (regulation)? Germicidal UV testing exists to answer all three, and as UVC LEDs proliferate, the pressure on testing programs to answer them consistently keeps growing.
Airmid’s Germicidal UV Testing Principles
Drawing on his work developing antimicrobial and antiviral testing protocols inside Airmid’s aerobiology chambers and microbiology laboratory, Dr. Hardwick will walk the audience through the principles that guide rigorous germicidal UV testing at Airmid.
Laboratory methodology should be technology-agnostic, but application-aware. The underlying microbiological question, how effectively a UV source inactivates the microorganism of interest, doesn’t change between an LED and a legacy bulb, but variables like exposure time, dose, distance, and surface characteristics do, and GUV testing has to account for them.
The testing framework must account for those differences without losing sight of the fundamental microbiological objective. Cost, safety profile, and output characteristics vary widely between UV sources, but the goal of germicidal UV testing stays the same: proving the device inactivates the target organism under conditions that reflect real-world use.
The framework also needs to generate fit-for-purpose evidence without unnecessary duplication. A C-suite buyer, an infection preventionist, an environmental services team, and a regulator are all asking different questions of the same data, and GUV testing needs to serve all four audiences without duplicating work.
Data should fit within a larger, industry-wide framework. Publicly available GUV efficacy datasets are still inconsistent, and Dr. Hardwick will point to efforts like the International Ultraviolet Association’s work toward a shared efficacy database as the direction germicidal UV testing needs to move.
And choosing the “best fit” laboratory has to be part of a manufacturer’s regulatory strategy. With no simple certification that guarantees a lab’s competence, manufacturers need to evaluate whether a laboratory understands Good Laboratory Practice requirements before committing to germicidal UV testing there.
Register for Tomorrow’s Webinar
Anyone working on UVC device adoption, procurement, or regulatory strategy in healthcare will find Dr. Hardwick’s perspective directly useful ahead of their next product or purchasing decision.
📅 September 10th, 10:00am ET
🎙️ Presenters: Dr. Matt Hardwick (Airmid Healthgroup) and Amy Hedrick (Cleanbox Technology)
🔗 Register: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_eK0U_ZpcRzus2oc8KSRI3Q#/registration
Related Tests and Services at Airmid Healthgroup
- ANSI AHAM AC-5 Testing Microbial CADR Certification (mCADR)
- UVGI Efficacy Testing for Air Disinfection
- Advisory Services for Indoor Air Quality and Product Validation
