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

这个小型企业技术转让第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是改善公众健康。在新冠肺炎大流行期间，个人防护装备，包括过滤面罩呼吸器(FFR)，对于控制疾病传播和保护第一线的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指导，支持FFR去污和重新使用，作为一种危机能力战略。该项目力求制定一种具有成本效益的方法，以支持在护理地点对个人防护设备进行消毒和重复使用。该技术旨在开发和评估一种简单、低成本的灭菌容器，用于有效、自动地去除FFR的污染。其目的是使急救人员和医护人员能够对FFR进行消毒，并在护理时准备好在几分钟内重复使用。这一能力在当前和潜在的未来大流行病中都是有用的。STTR第一阶段项目旨在利用高压脉冲电场(PEF)来净化和重复使用FFR。除了杀灭细菌和真菌外，人们还观察到PEF在暴露后几秒钟内就能迅速灭活肠道病毒。PEF还可用于在重复使用之前对FFR掩模光纤进行电充电。N-95FFR的过滤效率通过带电的聚丙烯驻极体纤维的中间层来提高，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构建并评估接种了包括SARS-CoV2在内的呼吸道病毒的FFR的原型，以直接展示灭菌和补给的效果。该项目将确定这样的系统是否允许在不影响FFR功能或效率的情况下进行多次灭菌和纤维补充周期。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.