News & Media
News Release:
MicroLumix Builds Connections Through a Shared Commitment to Service
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — MicroLumix Bioscience Technologies recently welcomed Edward “Eddie” McCarthy III, President of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville, to its Jacksonville headquarters for an opportunity to share more about the company, its technology and the mission driving its work.
During the visit, MicroLumix leaders Chris Hickey, Debra Vanderhoff and Michelle Hogan spent time with McCarthy discussing the company’s continued growth, the people behind its technology and a shared commitment to serving others and creating meaningful change.
News Release:
Built in Jacksonville. Designed for Global Impact.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville’s growing reputation as a destination for technology, innovation and talent is creating new opportunities for companies building their future in Northeast Florida—including MicroLumix Bioscience Technologies.
Headquartered on the 42nd floor of the Bank of America Tower in downtown Jacksonville, MicroLumix is building a bioscience technology company with a vision that extends across the United States and around the world.
That vision closely aligns with conversations taking place throughout Jacksonville about the city’s continued growth.
MicroLumix leaders recently had the opportunity to hear Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan discuss the importance of technology and innovation, attracting companies and talented professionals, and continuing the momentum underway across the city.
Press Release:
MicroLumix to Show GermPass Technology at CES 2026:
Future of Infection Control Combats Escalating Antimicrobial Resistance Through Automated Surface Disinfection
GermPass eradicates 99.999% of pathogens on high-volume touchpoints, offering imperative prevention as resistance threatens millions
Jacksonville, FL – December 30, 2025 – On a mission to protect the vulnerable from the dangers of contaminated surfaces, MicroLumix today announced its participation at CES 2026 in Las Vegas. The brand will demonstrate GermPass, the world’s only patented, automated disinfection technology (ADT) that harnesses UV-C light to eliminate 99.999% of germs on high volume touchpoints in just seconds and after every touch.
What started as grief over a friend’s staph infection that rapidly led to an emergency room visit and the friend’s untimely death turned into brainstorming and a new perspective on germs, healthcare and innovation by Debra Vanderhoff. The infection that gripped Vanderhoff’s friend had taken her from an ordinary day to death within days, after coming in contact with a contaminated door handle, which led to an ear infection that eventually penetrated her brain, according to Vanderhoff. She views it as a preventable loss, and thus began exploring ways to fight germs that exist so prevalently on commonly-used touchpoints.
In 2019, Vanderhoff merged her innovative and creative skills, aiming to make a difference in the germ-contracting realm to try and mitigate losses such as the one of her friend. This meant embarking in an area of business that was relatively new to her. She and her husband Chris Hickey “tinkered around in the garage, put some parts together,” Vanderhoff said. “We’re not engineers, we’re not scientists—we’re just very resourceful people.”
EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) — The pandemic has made many of us focus even more on infectious diseases.
But a Luzerne County native had a contagious disease on her radar before the first confirmed case of COVID-19 and set out to do something about it.
Debra Vanderhoff grew up in Kingston before setting off into the business world. She’s now putting the business degree she earned from Misericordia University into a product she claims will revolutionize germ-fighting.
“80 percent of the germs that we intake and get sick from are spread by the hands,” said Debra Vanderhoff – Co-founder/C.O.O, Germpass.
Kingston native Debra Vanderhoff promises she and her Harvard-educated husband are poised to reveal a breakthrough germ-killing invention they hope will change the world.
It’s a major vow, they know. But they are optimistic they are on to something revolutionary, especially amid the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
The Jacksonville, Florida, couple will reveal the patent-pending GermPass product line on Tuesday during a launch party and press conference at the exclusive Harvard Club in New York City, an invitation-only event that’s expected to attract national media attention.
In 2019, Vanderhoff merged her innovative and creative skills, aiming to make a difference in the germ-contracting realm to try and mitigate losses such as the one of her friend. This meant embarking in an area of business that was relatively new to her. She and her husband Chris Hickey “tinkered around in the garage, put some parts together,” Vanderhoff said. “We’re not engineers, we’re not scientists—we’re just very resourceful people.”
Infection Intel: J&J MedTech, Merck and Ridgeback, MicroLumix, and Evinature Updates
GermPass: Transforming Infection Control with Automated Disinfection Technology
MicroLumix Bioscience Technologies is leading a revolution in infection prevention and control with its groundbreaking Automated Touchpoint Disinfection Technology (ATDT). GermPass, the company’s flagship product, addresses the persistent challenge of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and pathogen transmission on high-touch public surfaces like door handles, restroom stalls, and elevator buttons. These surfaces serve as a “germ bank,” facilitating the spread of illnesses even with regular cleaning protocols and proper hand hygiene.
GermPass: The Future of Infection Control - Inside Look at CES 2025
MicroLumix Unveils GermPass Germ Killing System
New biotechnology product aims to be the world’s fastest automatic sanitary solution
NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — GermPass, a division of MicroLumix, today debuted first-of-its-kind biotechnology at the Harvard Club of New York. The GermPass system, which has been independently validated to kill the SARS-Cov-2 (Covid-19) virus in one second, is the result of a eureka moment in January 2020 when the concept of an automated UVC light-enabled germ decontamination chamber for public touchpoints was invented. In mid-February, the efficacy of the working concept model was validated when it killed 1.5 million germs in five seconds and GermPass was born.
“20 million people die every year due to preventable infectious disease,” said Chris Hickey, CEO of MicroLumix. “This is the pandemic no one talks about, and something GermPass has the power to change. What we have accomplished, a five-second automatic germ kill of public services has never been done before, by anyone, with anything, at any time.”
The event at the Harvard Club in New York today featured Dr. Ashraf Affan, CEO of Angel Kids Pediatric Centers, and Dr. Charles Gerba, a world-renowned infectious disease expert. Both doctors highlighted how the results of GermPass field testing brought them to believe why advanced technology has the potential to prevent millions of illnesses and deaths each year. Once lab testing is completed, Dr. Affan states he intends to become the first GermPass-enabled pediatric center in Florida.
“I started this company because a healthy 33-year-old friend of mine died from a staph infection likely caused by a public door handle,” said Debra Vanderhoff, Founder and Chief Operating Officer of MicroLumix. “Life is full of risk, but no one should be in jeopardy from touching public surfaces like door handles, elevators, ATMs, and other common touchpoints. I am proud to say that GermPass can help prevent millions of illnesses and deaths every year.”
In October of 2020, Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) conducted testing on the GermPass UVC LED light source against SARS-CoV-2. The results demonstrated that a 6.25 mJ/cm2 of the GermPass light source provides a 3-log reduction (99.9%) of the virus. Using the data from the NEIDL study, Crystal IS re-created the GermPass demo box in an Optimax Studio simulator and determined that the average minimum intensity was 6.25 mJ/cm2. This led Crystal IS to conclude that the GermPass demo box kills the Covid-19 virus in one second, accounting for the half-life of the UVC LEDs.
“It’s not that no one has tried to solve this problem,” said Jim Dotsikas, President of MicroLumix. “It’s that prior to GermPass, there were no viable options for protecting high-touch, high-contact, public surfaces for areas like doors, restrooms, and elevators. Manual cleaning, natural anti-microbials, and chemicals aren’t capable of doing what GermPass does automatically.”
Demo video available here.
About MicroLumix
Founded in a garage in September 2019 in Jacksonville, Fla., and later incorporated on January 1, 2020, MicroLumix’s mission is to prevent the spread of infectious disease caused by constantly contaminated public touchpoints such as door handles, restrooms, and elevators. According to the Center’s for Disease Control (CDC), 54,000 people die every day due to preventable infectious diseases, and 80% of the most common infectious diseases are spread by the hands.
For more information about MicroLumix, please contact Juda Engelmayer, President of HeraldPR, at 212.220.3898, EXT. 700 or at juda@heraldpr.com or contact info@MicroLumix.com or call 904-454-5745.
Media Contact
Juda Engelmayer
President, HeraldPR
212-220-3898 EXT. 700
Juda@heraldpr.com