Circadian, a consultant to employers who operate night shifts or round-the-clock schedules, has acquired a controlling stake in ZircLight Inc. The $2.5 million Series A investment was led by ams AG, a designer and manufacturer of sensor and analog solutions including sensor-integrated intelligent managers that are enabling the next generation of smart lighting systems.
ZircLight Inc, which will operate as Circadian ZircLight, holds the core intellectual property rights to devices including LED lighting systems, eyewear, and display screens that alleviate the negative health and performance effects of artificial lighting in our nighttime environments by controlling nocturnal exposure to specific blue light wavelengths that stimulate melanopsin receptor visual pathways and cause neuroendocrine disruption (including melatonin and cortisol), and disease marker gene disruptions (including BMal1 and Per2).
Dr Martin Moore-Ede, Circadian CEO, says in a release: “The ZircLight technology, using circadian-modulated spectrum-specific LEDs, provides a highly effective solution to nocturnal workplace lighting exposure, and a healthy alternative to the blue-pump LED lighting that is currently flooding the market. We seek to provide the energy-saving and technology advantages of LED lighting without the considerable downside risks of dosing large populations of people with blue wavelengths that have been associated with increased health risks.”
Dr Doros Platika, chairman of Circadian ZircLight, says: “The 2007 decision by the World Health Organization to classify nocturnal light exposure as a ‘probable carcinogen,’ the extensive human epidemiological and animal research studies over the past 10 years demonstrating that nocturnal light exposure increases cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and depression, has brought public attention to this very real health hazard.”
Sajol Ghoshal, vice president, strategic development, Sensor Technology & Wireless Connectivity at ams AG, added, “ams is very excited about the coming wave of sensor–driven technological solutions to the health and wellness challenges that have been created by our modern environment. We see circadian modulated lighting as an important application for ams intelligent sensors that opens entirely new dimensions in the concept of high quality light, and will be the hallmark of the smart lighting revolution.”
