Innovator Spotlight: Chad Roy, MSPH, PhD

How do you lead a lab fighting deadly pathogens, manage multi-million-dollar contracts, shape the future of medical research at a university, and still launch a startup in your spare time? Just ask Chad Roy. 

Pictured: Chad Roy with Kaylynn Genemaras at the first Tulane Innovation Institute Open Medical Innovation Challenge (Open MIC Night),  March 2023.

Chad Roy, MSPH, PhD, is the Vice Chair for Research at the John W. Deming Department of Medicine in the Tulane School of Medicine, the Associate Dean for Research, Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and a core scientist at the Tulane National Biomedical Research Center. In 2020, Roy secured a $10.3 million contract from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID) to evaluate the nation’s most promising vaccines and treatments for COVID-19.

Yet amid these demanding roles, Roy has launched his third startup, Bio Protectant Technologies Inc. (BPT), which is built around a novel antimicrobial molecule he discovered and patented.

Roy’s entrepreneurial journey began in 2003 when he was a civilian scientist with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases. He co-invented a precision inhalation system and then co-founded a company to commercialize it. That company still thrives today. Roy stepped away to join Tulane in 2006 and later became a customer, acquiring the custom inhalation systems built for laboratory-based infectious disease research. Tulane owns multiple versions of this device, which is a cornerstone technology for Roy’s lab as well as other infectious disease labs throughout the world engaging in similar research.

In 2017, Roy co-founded his second startup focused on enhancing contact lens disinfection in collaboration with Dr. Rebecca Metzinger, an ophthalmologist from the Tulane School of Medicine. The company raised over $12 million and advanced to clinical trials, but ultimately failed to demonstrate superiority to existing products. The setback provided a crash course in licensing, investor relations, and how founders should protect their stakes during early funding and commercialization.

It was in the twilight of the contact lens solution experience that Roy made a breakthrough. He had become familiar with benzalkonium chloride, a common disinfectant in use since the 1950’s that is found in hand sanitizers, household cleaners, and contact lens solutions. Benzalkonium chloride isn’t a single chemical—it’s a blend of related molecules called quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs). Each has a slightly different structure and varying germ-killing power. Curious about which component was most effective in killing germs, Roy had the individual components synthesized and then tested each on an array of bacteria, fungi, and viruses to reveal which component held the most potency.

The results were striking: one molecule was dramatically more potent at killing germs than the rest, and incredibly, it had never been patented.  

That discovery sparked the creation of BPT in 2020, co-founded with Dr. Joseph Buell, former Tulane Medicine faculty, and now a hepatobiliary surgeon in Dallas. Together, they began bootstrapping BPT while balancing their full-time careers.

The company’s first product utilizes the molecule, colloquially called “EQ12”, as the essential component of a new, enhanced surgical irrigant, a solution used to maintain sterility during operative procedures. It delivers the same germ-killing power at significantly lower chemical concentrations, setting a safer, more effective standard for surgical disinfection. The solution is currently moving towards FDA submission and approval as a medical device.

But the promise of the molecule doesn’t end in the operating room. On a complementary technology developed by Roy and Buell, using supercritical carbon dioxide (CO₂) impregnation, antimicrobials – like EQ12 – can be embedded without the use of solvents within fabrics, plastics, and porous materials—unlocking potential for self-sanitizing medical scrubs, odor-free athletic wear, and textiles that retain antimicrobial protection even after repeated use.

“Healthcare, sports gear, consumer goods, foodstuffs — the possibilities are enormous,” Roy says. “This molecule can go everywhere. EQ12’s potency at such low concentrations enables a truly remarkable safety profile”.

Launching a company while holding senior academic and laboratory positions would challenge anyone’s bandwidth. To help build momentum, Roy has now partnered with the Tulane Innovation Institute’s Founder Lab, a new program designed to pair faculty inventors with experienced CEOs who can scale university spinouts. It’s a unique, paid opportunity for fractional executives to lead startups based on technologies from a leading R1 research institution.

Pictured from left to right: Chad Roy, Joseph Buell, and Ariel Johnson— the BPT team.

Founder Lab participants are matched with Tulane researchers and supported with commercialization resources, mentorship, venture education, and funding connections. Roy and Buell’s company was the program’s first official participant in a pilot that was launched with four founders. They’ve been paired with Ariel Johnson, PhD, a strategist with experience in venture fundraising and a track record that includes leading a $700 million acquisition at Endotronix. Johnson is serving as BPT’s founding CEO.

Roy sees Founder Lab as a remarkable step forward in Tulane’s innovation ecosystem. “The resources Kimberly Gramm at the Innovation Institute and Matt Koenig at the Office of Intellectual Property Management are building are sophisticated and supportive,” he says. “These opportunities will help faculty bring meaningful technologies to market quickly.”

For Roy, this isn’t just another research milestone or business opportunity. As a Tulane alumnus and the parent of Tulane graduates, it’s personal. “A better antimicrobial substance is something Tulane can proudly claim,” he says. “It aligns with Tulane’s legacy in infectious disease.” Guided by Tulane’s motto, Non sibi, sed suis—“Not for one’s self, but for one’s own”—Roy’s vision is to build solutions that keep people safer and healthier, from surgical tools to self-sanitizing yoga pants.
 

Pictured: Chad Roy with Kimberly Gramm,  David and Marion Mussafer Chief Innovation and Entrepreneurship Officer at the Tulane University Innovation Institute, and Nassir Marrouche, MD, Director of TRIAD Center, Professor of Medicine Vice Chair, Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the second Tulane Innovation Institute Open Medical Innovation Challenge (Open MIC Night), March 2024.