Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2018-2019)

The goal for this university-industry collaborative project is to develop a dynamic ink system that can bex000D
applied to the skin under commonly used sunscreen products and indicate to the user when the sunscreen hasx000D
worn off and when to reapply it. The ink will be based on microencapsulated photoresponsive dye moleculesx000D
that will change from colourless to coloured when exposed to the UVB radiation in sunlight. The sunscreenx000D
worn on top of this stamped ink will block the UVB radiation and prevent the ink from colouring. When thex000D
sunscreen wears off, the UVB will reach the stamp, activate the photochromic dyes and become coloured.x000D
Reapplication of the sunscreen will block the activating light and the stamp will return to its originallyx000D
colourless state.x000D
Second generation systems will not only provide visual feed back to the user about the need to reapply thex000D
sunscreen, they will also act as dosimeters, providing information about to the total amount of radiationx000D
received.x000D
The collaboration between the Branda group at 4D LABS and this local Canadian company will help developx000D
new materials and methods to overcome an important health problem and provide better guidelines about usingx000D
sunscreen effectively.