RAPID: Molecular Imprinting of Coronavirus Attachment Factors to Enhance Disinfection by a Selective Photocatalytic “Trap-and-Zap” Approach

导致COVID-19的病毒（即，SARS-CoV-2）在空气管道中被发现，这表明它可以通过空调系统在建筑物周围传播。尽管患者检测结果为阴性，但SARS-CoV-2也会在粪便中脱落，因此它可能会到达污水处理厂，在那里它可以存活数天，并被雾化或排放到污水中。事实上，有报道称SARS-CoV-2可能通过浴室管道传播。 尽管冠状病毒可以通过一些传统的水处理工艺灭活，但迫切需要更精确的病毒消毒方法，这些方法在现实情况下快速，有效和可靠。本项目的目的是开发一种新的选择性吸附和光催化消毒方法（即，捕捉和攻击）的SARS-CoV-2和其他致病性冠状病毒。这将产生一种无化学品的技术（从而避免有害的消毒副产物），具有前所未有的精确度和可靠的效率来消除冠状病毒。驱动假设是，具有常见冠状病毒附着因子的石墨碳氮化物的分子印迹将使选择性病毒吸附在反应位点附近，从而产生可靠的高消毒。虽然提高废水消毒和医院空气消毒系统的能力和弹性，以保护公众健康免受新出现的传染病的影响具有显着的内在价值，但该项目的好处要广泛得多。该项目将增强对各种类型冠状病毒的表面识别（例如，引起COVID-19、MERS和SARS的病毒），这将有助于集中它们并提高两者的精确分离（例如，通过上级吸附剂）和可用于诊断和监视工作的传感器的检测极限。项目成果将被纳入各种课程，包括莱斯大学的教师纳米环境工程（NEET）课程，该课程每年招收15名教师，覆盖3,300多名高中生。该课程最近扩展到亚利桑那州立大学，并正在扩展到埃尔帕索的德克萨斯大学，从而确保向STEM教师广泛传播这种“陷阱和zap”方法。（通过分子印迹增强），选择性吸附抗生素抗性基因并将它们集中在光催化位点附近以进行有效降解（doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b06926）。这种方法将被修改为目标SARS-CoV-2和其他冠状病毒的印记分子参与病毒附着，如唾液酸，硫酸肝素蛋白聚糖，血管紧张素转换酶相关的羧肽酶（ACE 2）相关的肽到石墨碳氮化物光催化剂。当印迹分子被去除时（例如，通过酸洗），它留下了目标特定的空腔，该空腔能够选择性地吸附和光催化灭活，并且受背景水成分的干扰最小。低致病性冠状病毒HCoV-NL 63（与SARS-CoV 2相似，被S刺突蛋白包封，并使用相同的细胞表面分子ACE 2作为宿主受体）将用于评估在竞争蛋白（如牛血清白蛋白）和噬菌体MS 2存在下分子印迹gC 3 N4的吸附动力学和选择性。将通过使用Avicel覆盖的空斑试验定量残留活病毒浓度来评估灭活效率。具体任务包括（1）选择模型冠状病毒（例如，HCoV-NL 63）和用于分子印迹的附着因子;（2）制备用于印迹的均匀、稳定的生物分子材料;（3）合成分子印迹催化剂;（4）表征目标冠状病毒颗粒对分子印迹催化剂的吸附动力学和选择性;（5）与传统消毒方法相比，分子印迹涂层催化剂的基准病毒灭活效率该项目的成果将被纳入各种课程，包括莱斯大学的教师纳米环境工程（NEET）课程，该课程每年招收15名教师，覆盖3，300多名高中生。该课程最近扩展到亚利桑那州立大学，并正在扩展到埃尔帕索的德克萨斯大学，从而确保这种“陷阱和zap”方法广泛传播到STEM教师。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

The virus that causes COVID-19 (i.e., SARS-CoV-2) has been found in air ducts, suggesting that it could spread around buildings via air conditioning systems. SARS-CoV-2 is also shed in stool despite patients testing negative, and thus it may reach wastewater treatment plants, where it could survive for days and be aerosolized or discharged in the effluent. In fact, there are reports that SARS-CoV-2 may spread through bathroom pipes. Although coronaviruses can be inactivated by some conventional water treatment processes, there is an urgent need for more precise viral disinfection approaches that are fast, efficient and reliable under realistic scenarios. The objective of this project is to develop a novel approach for selective adsorption and photocatalytic disinfection (i.e., trap-and-zap) of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogenic coronaviruses. This would result in a chemical-free technology (thus avoiding harmful disinfection byproducts) with unprecedented precision and reliable efficiency to inactivate coronavirus. The driving hypothesis is that molecular imprinting of graphitic carbon nitride with common coronavirus attachment factors will enable selective virus adsorption near reactive sites, resulting in reliably high disinfection. Whereas enhancing the capacity and resiliency of wastewater disinfection and hospital air sterilization systems to protect public health against emerging infectious diseases has significant intrinsic merit, the benefits of this project are much broader. This project will enhance surface recognition of various types of coronavirus (e.g., those causing COVID-19, MERS and SARS), which will inform efforts to concentrate them and improve both precision separation (e.g., by superior sorbents) and detection limits of sensors that can be used in diagnostics and surveillance efforts. Project results will be integrated into various courses, including the NanoEnvironmental Engineering for Teachers (NEET) course at Rice, which enrolls 15 teachers that reach over 3,300 high school students annually. This course recently expanded to Arizona State University and is also being expanded to the University of Texas at El Paso, thereby ensuring wide dissemination of this “trap-and-zap” approach to STEM teachers.This project builds on a recently published, nanotechnology-enabled “trap-and-zap” approach (enhanced by molecular imprinting), to selectively adsorb antibiotic resistant genes and concentrate them near photocatalytic sites for efficient degradation (doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b06926). This approach will be modified to target SARS-CoV-2 and other coronavirus by imprinting molecules involved in virus attachment such as sialic acids, heparin sulfate proteoglycan, and angiotensin-converting enzyme–related carboxypeptidase (ACE2)-associated peptides onto the graphitic carbon nitride photocatalysts. When the imprinted molecule is removed (e.g., by acid washing), it leaves behind a target-specific cavity that enables selective adsorption and photocatalytic inactivation with minimum interference by background water constituents. Low pathogenic coronavirus HCoV-NL63 (which, similarly to SARS-CoV 2, is enveloped with an S spike protein and uses the same cell surface molecule ACE2 as host receptor) will be used to assess adsorption kinetics and selectivity of molecularly imprinted-gC3N4 in the presence of competing proteins (such as bovine serum albumin) and bacteriophage MS2. Inactivation efficiency will be assessed by quantifying residual viable virus concentrations, using the plaque assay with Avicel overlay. Specific tasks include to (1) select a model coronavirus (e.g., HCoV-NL63) and attachment factors for molecular imprinting; (2) prepare homogenous, stable, biomolecular materials for imprinting; (3) synthesize the molecularly-imprinted catalyst; (4) characterize adsorption kinetics and selectivity of target coronavirus particles to the molecularly-imprinted catalyst; (5) benchmark virus inactivation efficiency of the molecularly imprinted -coated catalyst against traditional disinfection methods (chlorination, ultraviolet irradiation) under realistic conditions; and (6) assess durability and reuse potential of the molecularly imprinted catalyst Project results will be integrated into various courses, including the NanoEnvironmental Engineering for Teachers (NEET) course at Rice, which enrolls 15 teachers that reach over 3,300 high school students annually. This course recently expanded to Arizona State University and is also being expanded to the University of Texas at El Paso, thereby ensuring wide dissemination of this “trap-and-zap” approach to STEM teachers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.