Eugene, Oregon -- Chemists at the University of Oregon are developing a polyurethane condom with a $100,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The university’s polymer laboratory team at its Center for Advanced Materials Characterization is looking to engineer a super thin condom which changes shape when heated. They also plan to develop a process for embedding the material with anti-STD nanoparticles.
Research professor and director of the laboratory Richard Chartoff and team are collaborating with polymers and biomedical PU applications specialist Bela Pukanszky from Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and a Hungarian colleague Belazs Imre.
If the team is successful, it can apply for a second grant up to $1m.