STTR Phase I: Rapid Point-of-Care Sterilization of Personal Protective Equipment for Frontline Healthcare Workers (COVID-19)

STTR 第一阶段：前线医护人员个人防护装备的快速护理点消毒 (COVID-19)

• 批准号: 2112172
• 负责人: Julie Lundstrom
• 金额: $ 25.6万
• 依托单位: RUSH RIVER RESEARCH CORPORATION
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-04-15 至 2024-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2112172&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; Rapid; Point; Care

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer, Phase I project is to improve public health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, personal protective equipment (PPE), including filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs), have been critical to containing disease spread and protecting first responders and healthcare workers on the frontlines. Shortages of FFRs have led public health agencies to provide guidance in favor of FFR decontamination and re-use as a crisis capacity strategy. This project seeks to develop a cost-effective approach to support sterilization and re-use of personal protective equipment at the point-of-care. The technology seeks to develop and evaluate a simple, low-cost, sterilization receptacle for the effective, automated decontamination of FFRs. The aim is to enable first responders and healthcare workers to sterilize FFRs and prepare them at the point of care for re-use within minutes. This capability can be useful both in the current and potential future pandemics.This STTR Phase I project seeks to harness high voltage pulsed electric fields (PEFs) for decontamination and re-use of FFRs. In addition to killing bacteria and fungi, PEF has been observed to rapidly inactivate enteric viruses within seconds of exposure. PEF can also be used to electrically recharge FFR mask fibers prior to re-use. The filtration efficiency of N-95 FFRs is improved by an intermediate layer of charged polypropylene electret fibers that trap small particles through electrostatic or electrophoretic effects. A prototype will be constructed and evaluated on FFRs inoculated with respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV2, in a clinical virology lab to directly demonstrate sterilization and recharge efficacy. The project will establish whether such a system will allow multiple sterilizations and fiber recharging cycles without affecting FFR function or efficacy.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.

这一小企业技术转让第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是改善公众健康。 在COVID-19大流行期间，个人防护装备（PPE）（包括过滤面罩呼吸器（FFR））对于遏制疾病传播以及保护一线急救人员和医护人员至关重要。FFR的短缺导致公共卫生机构提供了支持FFR去污和重复使用的指南，作为危机处理能力策略。该项目旨在开发一种具有成本效益的方法，以支持在护理点消毒和重复使用个人防护设备。该技术旨在开发和评估一种简单、低成本的灭菌容器，用于对FFR进行有效的自动去污。其目的是使急救人员和医护人员能够对FFR进行消毒，并在几分钟内在护理点准备好重复使用。 这种能力在当前和未来潜在的大流行中都很有用。STTR第一阶段项目旨在利用高压脉冲电场（PEF）进行FFRs的去污和再利用。除了杀死细菌和真菌外，还观察到PEF在暴露后几秒钟内迅速消灭肠道病毒。PEF还可用于在重复使用之前对FFR面罩纤维进行充电。 N-95 FFRs的过滤效率通过带电聚丙烯驻极纤维中间层来提高，该纤维通过静电或电泳效应捕获小颗粒。 将在临床病毒学实验室中构建原型，并在接种呼吸道病毒（包括SARS-CoV 2）的FFR上进行评价，以直接证明灭菌和充电有效性。该项目将确定这种系统是否允许多次灭菌和光纤充电循环，而不影响血流储备分数的功能或功效。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。