Long-lasting disinfectant promises to help fight pandemics

Date:
September 2, 2021
Source:
University of Central Florida
Summary:
Researchers have developed a nanoparticle-based disinfectant that
can continuously kill viruses on a surface for up to seven days --
a discovery that could be a powerful weapon against COVID-19 and
other emerging pathogenic viruses.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== University of Central Florida researchers have developed a
nanoparticle-based disinfectant that can continuously kill viruses on
a surface for up to seven days -- a discovery that could be a powerful
weapon against COVID-19 and other emerging pathogenic viruses.


==========================================================================
The findings, by a multidisciplinary team of the university's virus
and engineering experts and the leader of an Orlando technology firm,
were published this week in ACS Nano, a journal of the American Chemical Society.

Christina Drake, a UCF alumna and founder of Kismet Technologies,
was inspired to develop the disinfectant after making a trip to the
grocery store in the early days of the pandemic. There she saw a worker spraying disinfectant on a refrigerator handle, then wiping off the
spray immediately.

"Initially my thought was to develop a fast-acting disinfectant," she
said, "but we spoke to consumers -- like doctors and dentists -- to find
out what they really wanted from a disinfectant. What mattered the most
to them was something long-lasting that would continue to disinfect
high-touch areas like doorhandles and floors long after application."
Drake partnered with Dr. Sudipta Seal, a UCF materials engineer
and nanosciences expert, and Dr. Griff Parks, a College of Medicine
virologist who is also associate dean of research and director of the
Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences. With funding from the National
Science Foundation, Kismet Tech and the Florida High Tech Corridor,
the researchers created a nanoparticle-engineered disinfectant.

Its active ingredient is an engineered nanostructure called cerium oxide,
which is known for its regenerative antioxidant properties. The cerium
oxide nanoparticles are modified with small amounts of silver to make
them more potent against pathogens.



==========================================================================
"It works both chemically and mechanically," explained Seal, a
who has been studying nanotechnology for more than 20 years. "The
nanoparticles emit electrons that oxidize the virus, rendering it
inactive. Mechanically, they also attach themselves to the virus and
rupture the surface almost like popping a balloon." Most disinfecting
wipes or sprays will disinfect a surface within three to six minutes of application but have no residual effects. This means surfaces need to be
wiped down repeatedly to stay clean from a number of viruses like COVID-
19. The nanoparticle formulation maintains its ability to inactivate
microbes and continues to disinfect a surface for up to seven days after
a single application.

"The disinfectant has shown tremendous antiviral activity against seven different viruses," explained Parks, whose lab was responsible for
testing the formulation against "a dictionary" of viruses. "Not only
did it show antiviral properties toward coronavirus and rhinovirus,
but it also proved effective against a wide range of other viruses with different structures and complexities. We are hopeful that with this
amazing range of killing capacity, this disinfectant will also be a highly effective tool against other new emerging viruses. " The scientists are confident the solution will have a major impact in health care settings,
in particular, reducing the rate of hospital acquired infections --
such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Clostridium difficile -- which cause infections that
affect more than one in 30 patients admitted to U.S. hospitals.

And unlike many commercial disinfectants, the formulation has no
harmful chemicals, which indicates it will be safe to use on any
surface. Regulatory testing for irritancy on skin and eye cells, as
required by the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency, showed no harmful effects.



========================================================================== "Many household disinfectants currently available contain chemicals that
can be harmful to the body with repeated exposure," Drake said. "Our nanoparticle- based product will have a high safety rating will
play a major role in reducing overall chemical exposure for humans."
More research is needed before the product can go to market, which is why
the next phase of the study will look at how the disinfectant performs
outside of the lab in real world applications. That work will look at
how the disinfectant is affected by external factors such as temperature
or sunlight. The team is in talks with a local hospital network to test
the product in their facilities.

"We're also exploring developing a semi-permanent film to see if we
can coat and seal a hospital floor or door handles, areas where you need
things to be disinfected and even with aggressive and persistent contact," Drake added.

Seal joined UCF's Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
which is part of UCF's College of Engineering and Computer Science, in
1997. He has an appointment at the College of Medicine and is a member
of UCF's prosthetics Cluster Biionix. He is the former director of UCF's Nanoscience Technology Center and Advanced Materials Processing Analysis Center. He received his doctorate in materials engineering with a minor
in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin and was a postdoctoral
fellow at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University
of California Berkeley.

Parks came to UCF in 2014 after 20 years at the Wake Forest School
of Medicine, where he was professor and chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. He earned his doctorate in biochemistry at
the University of Wisconsin and was an American Cancer Society Fellow
at Northwestern University.

The study was co-authored by post-doctoral researchers Candace Fox, from
UCF's College of Medicine and Craig Neal from UCF's College of Engineering
and Computer Sciences and graduate students, Tamil Sakthivel, Udit Kumar
and Yifei Fu from UCf's College of Engineering and Computer Sciences.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_Central_Florida. Original written by Christin Senior. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Craig J. Neal, Candace R. Fox, Tamil Selvan Sakthivel, Udit Kumar,
Yifei
Fu, Christina Drake, Griffith D. Parks, Sudipta Seal. Metal-Mediated
Nanoscale Cerium Oxide Inactivates Human Coronavirus and Rhinovirus
by Surface Disruption. ACS Nano, 2021; DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c04142 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210901142713.htm

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