Engineering Light for the Control of Viral Pathogens in the Natural and Built Environment

在水基础设施、自然水系统和室内建筑环境中，病毒是一种具有挑战性的病原体。然而，与其他类型的病原体（如细菌、真菌或原生动物）相比，由于在检测、表征和培养这些最小和最简单的生物有机体方面面临的挑战，人们对它们在环境中的命运知之甚少。冠状病毒大流行深深强调，旨在了解病毒在环境中的命运和持久性的研究，以及开发检测和控制其传播的创新和有效方法，从未像现在这样至关重要。光能对消毒非常有用——紫外线灯广泛用于水处理，而阳光是一种已知的杀菌剂。然而，缺乏关于病毒对光反应的文献。过去的大部分研究都集中在水性非包膜病原体上，对冠状病毒等包膜病原体知之甚少。通过制造定制的光催化纳米材料，也可以间接利用日光和室内灯具的光进行消毒，该材料可以被动地将光能转化为活性氧。发光（荧光）材料可能是开发新型传感器的理想材料，因为它们可以提供近乎瞬时的响应。这项研究计划的长远目标是利用光来控制环境中的病毒病原体。该计划将通过三个主题来探讨这一点：(i)病毒光失活机制，（ii）被动光驱动病毒失活，以及（iii）基于荧光的病毒检测系统。本研究计划将寻求实现以下短期目标。目的1是通过研究替代包膜病毒和非包膜病毒在不同波长下的失活率，提高我们对病毒对光反应的理解。目的二是开发一种增强型TiO2基光催化纳米材料用于被动失活。目的3是开发改进的采样方法来检测废水中的病毒基因组物质。总之，这些目标支持开发光吸收技术以检测和去除环境中的病毒病原体的长期目标。在这笔拨款的最后几年，还将启动一项初步研究，评估通过表面结合等离子体纳米粒子荧光猝灭和增强来开发快速检测病毒传感器的可行性。了解光诱导失活是预测病毒病原体在环境中的命运的关键，而工程光处理系统为开发可持续、实用和有效的控制病毒病原体的方法提供了机会。该研究项目将提高对自然和工程系统中病毒和光之间直接和纳米材料介导的相互作用的基本理解。

Viruses are a challenging category of pathogen to control in water infrastructure, natural water systems, and indoor built environments. However, compared to other types of pathogens, e.g. bacteria, fungi, or protozoa, much less is known about their fate in the environment due to the challenges presented in detecting, characterizing, and culturing these smallest and simplest biological organisms. Deeply emphasized by the coronavirus pandemic, research aiming to understand the fate and persistence of viruses in the environment, and the development of innovative and efficient methods to detect and control their spread has never been more vital. Light energy is highly useful for disinfection - ultraviolet lamps are widely used in water treatment and sunlight is a known biocide. Yet, there is a lack of literature on viral responses to light. The bulk of past studies focused on waterborne non-enveloped pathogens, leaving less known regarding enveloped pathogens, like coronavirus. Sunlight and light from indoor lamps can also be indirectly harnessed for disinfection through the fabrication of tailored photocatalytic nanomaterials, which can passively transform light energy into reactive oxygen species. Light emitting (fluorescent) materials may be ideal for the development of new sensors, as they can provide a near instantaneous response. The long-term vision of this research program is to exploit light to control viral pathogens in the environment. The program will explore this through three themes: (i) viral photoinactivation mechanisms, (ii) passive light driven viral inactivation, and (iii) fluorescence-based viral detection systems. This research program will seek to achieve the following short-term objectives. Objective 1 is to enhance our understanding of viral responses to light by studying the inactivation rate at different wavelengths for surrogate enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. Objective 2 is to develop an enhanced TiO2 based photocatalytic nanomaterial for passive inactivation. Objective 3 is to develop improved sampling methods for the detection of viral genomic material in wastewater. Together, these objectives support the long-term goal of developing light absorbing technologies for the detection and removal of viral pathogens in the environment. In the final years of this grant, a preliminary study to assess the feasibility of developing rapid sensors for the detection of viruses through fluorescence quenching and enhancement by surface bound plasmonic nanoparticles will also be initiated. Understanding light induced inactivation is key to predicting the fate of viral pathogens in the environment, while engineered light-based treatment systems provide opportunities to develop sustainable, practical and effective methods for controlling viral pathogens. This research program will improve fundamental understanding of direct, and nanomaterial mediated, interactions between viruses and light, in both natural and engineered systems.