An antimicrobial coating developed by the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology (DST), has shown excellent results in addressing the spread of the deadly flu virus, the leading cause of serious respiratory infections by inactivating large amounts of influenza virus. The Science and Engineering Research Board, a unit of the DST, supports the further development of this coating country’s war against COVID-19.
The proven efficiency of the coating in 100% destruction of the influenza virus (an enveloped virus) demonstrates that the coating can be effective in destroying COVID 19 – another enveloped virus on contact. The technology, which is simple and therefore does not require skilled personnel to develop it, has already been tested for COVD 19. When found active, a number of personal protective equipment, such as masks, coats, gloves, face shields, used by doctors and nurses can be used with it. covered, giving them more protection and safety. This will help them fight the fight against COVID 19 more effectively.
“It is very encouraging that the best of our research institutions worldwide recognized for their strengths in basic sciences are also increasingly translating their knowledge into challenging and useful applications. This product from JNCASR is a convincing example of this. I have no doubt that we will see many more successful examples with the appropriate industry help in manufacturing, “said Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, DST Secretary.
The technology was developed by Prof. Jayanta Haldar’s group at JNCASR, including Mr. Sreyan Ghosh, Dr. Riya Mukherjee and Dr. Debajyoti Basak. The compound the scientists made with coating is soluble in a range of solvents such as water, ethanol, methanol and chloroform. Aqueous or organic solutions of this compound can be used to coat a variety of everyday life and medically important materials, such as textiles, plastic, PVC, polyurethane, polystyrene, in one step. The coating exhibits excellent antiviral activity against the influenza virus and completely kills them within 30 minutes of contact. It disrupts the membranes of pathogens (i.e. bacteria) that lead to their death.
During the study, the coated surfaces also completely killed several drug-resistant bacteria and fungi, such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and fluconazole-resistant C. Albicans spp, most of them by 30 to 45 minutes, thus showing rapid microbicidal activity # The compound coated cotton sheets showed complete killing of over a million bacterial cells.
Molecules are designed to achieve optimal solubility in a wide range of solvents using a cost-effective three- to four-step synthetic approach with easy purification and high yield. In addition, the coating can be manufactured on various surfaces with ease and simplicity of the technology eliminates the need for skilled personnel for its development.
(With inputs from PIB)
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