Cold atmospheric plasmas for the study of fundamental interaction mechanisms with biological substrates: the role of ions and the plasma-induced liquid chemistry

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The interest in plasma interactions with biological substrates is rapidly growing, with large application potential in food, pharmaceutical, and medical industries including a variety of therapeutic applications. Plasma decontamination is inherently fast, do not leave traces of toxic compounds, and can treat heat-sensitive substrates including living tissues. Our proposal package PAK728 Plasma-Microbe Interaction during Plasma-based Surface Decontamination (PlasmaDecon) has contributed significantly to the understanding of the fundamental processes underlying the different applications of plasma decontamination processes by studying the fundamental interaction mechanisms between reactive species and bacteria and spores and also by studying synergistic effects between reactive species, photons, and heat. We were also able to provide molecular-level insights into the effects of plasma on bio-macromolecules. This renewal proposal aims at answering new questions, which have surfaced during the investigations in PlasmaDecon and with have been raised by other researchers in the field and focuses mainly on two new topics: 1) Investigation of the transport of reactive species from the plasma into a liquid, followed by the study of the resulting chemistry in the liquid phase. These data will serve as a starting point in the characterization of the effects of the plasma activated water on the biological substrates. 2) Use of VUV radiation (from plasma and commercial lamps) in such a way that an absolutely calibrated flux of photoionization-generated ions to the substrate is generated. The molecular mechanisms of damage of cells and cellular structures induced by these ions will be investigated. The proposed research will provide important and therefore attractive results for other researchers and it already attracted five collaboration partners: Profs. J. Bandow, K. Stapelmann, and P. Awakowicz at RUB (collaborators from the PAK728) and Dr. Petr Lukes (Prague, Czech Republic) and Dr. Felipe Iza (Loughborough, United Kingdom).