Sterifre Medical, a company that has developed a desktop sterilization device that only uses room temperature plasma, has already brought in $1.33 million of the $5 million it plans to raise in its present funding round, according to a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The money raise, reported in an SEC Form D filed Dec. 20, is the latest piece of good news for Sterifre (Ithaca, NY). Company officials claim the desktop sterilization device eliminates all germs on treated cellphones within a 10-minute cleaning cycle. The gizmo only uses industrial-grade hydrogen peroxide, air and a power source, according to a Cornell University news release.

A former Cornell research associate, Czeslaw Golkowski, PhD, invented the desktop sterilization device and is the CEO of Sterifre Medical.

Dr. Jason A. Spector, a professor of surgery and plastic surgery in otolaryngology at Weill Cornell Medicine and plastic surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, tested the sterilization device using 51 cellphones from different manufacturers including Apple, Samsung and Blackberry. Spector and his team took samples of bacteria that developed after regular cellphone use. Then the team treated half of the cellphones for five minutes and the other half for 10 minutes.

Cellphones they treated for 5 minutes had 93% of their bacteria removed. When the devices were in for 10 minutes, no new bacteria grew, and the cellphones came out bacteria-free.

Spector anticipates that the sterilization devices could be used in hospitals, clinics, schools and even the home eventually. Since the sterilization technique only requires air and hydrogen peroxide, almost anything can be sterilized in it: cellphones, baby bottles and much more. The device kills bacteria, fungi, spores and viruses.

“This is something that’s innately relevant to all of our lives. I could imagine having one of these sterilization devices throughout every hospital or any patient care facility for that matter for treating electronic devices and biomedical equipment at the end of every day,” Spector said in a Cornell news release.

The device’s availability is presently limited. Sterifre is in the process of securing FDA approval.

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