RAPID - Impact of Coronaviridae lipid, protein and RNA interaction on copper, zinc, and their derivatives coated personal protective equipment surfaces and viral infectivity

个人防护装备（PPE），如口罩、手套和手术服，是医疗、卫生保健和实验室工作人员防止接触严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2）的主要屏障。病毒可在目前可用的个人防护用品表面存活许多天。最近的证据表明，具有抗菌活性的铜或氧化铜锌复合材料可能灭活病毒。然而，目前对其机制了解甚少。本项目将验证在PPE表面涂覆铜或氧化锌纳米粒子（NANO-PPE）会导致病毒生物分子变性和降解，从而导致病毒失活的假设。该项目为PPE表面含有这些生物金属的杂化材料提供了新的见解，特别是表征了它们与生物材料（如脂质、蛋白质或RNA）的相互作用以及对结构功能的影响。RAPID项目利用了几个互补的技术领域，包括纳米材料表面化学和工艺、生物物理学、生物化学和病毒学。这为研究生、研究生和本科生的多元化群体提供了一个独特的跨学科培训环境，以从事这一前沿研究。社会影响在于，纳米防护装备可以在接触时灭活病毒，更好地保护人员免受病毒感染，从而限制社区传播，长期来看可能有助于防止其他卫生保健相关感染和耐药细菌。该项目由化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统（CBET）部门和促进竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。该RAPID项目的主要目标是对病毒或模拟病毒的脂质、蛋白质和RNA与表面涂有铜或铜/氧化锌复合材料的PPE材料的纳米级相互作用有更基本的了解。该项目的目标是：1)制备涂覆铜和/或氧化锌纳米颗粒、混合物和复合材料的防护用品材料；2)表征其纳米生物相互作用并量化纳米相互作用引起的生物分子变性和降解；3)将代呼吸道病毒与纳米防护用品接触，并确定其对病毒滴度和传染性的功能影响。标准的工业规模工艺，如静电纺丝和深层涂层，将用于在PPE（口罩、丁腈手套和手术衣）表面涂覆铜和氧化锌纳米颗粒。通过透射电子显微镜、红外光谱、拉曼/光致发光和x射线光电子能谱，研究病毒与脂质、蛋白质和RNA的表面相互作用。生物分子变性和降解将通过二维荧光差谱、圆二色、凝胶电泳、色氨酸消化和液相色谱/质谱进行量化。最后，病毒滴度和RT-PCR将用于量化纳米级相互作用对生物活性的影响。总的来说，实验将通过纳米ppe接触来探讨病毒相互作用的结构-功能影响及其抑制作用。该项目将被纳入纳米医学研究生班的纳米尺度相互作用和表征方法单元，并纳入PI和合作PI研究项目，涉及本科生、硕士、博士和博士后。这项研究的产品将被转化为企业合作伙伴，用于快速制造和引入医疗保健和实验室供应链。该项目由化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统（CBET）部门和促进竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Personal protective equipment (PPE), such as face masks, gloves and surgical gowns, forms the primary barrier for medical, healthcare and laboratory workers for protection against contact with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). The virus lives on the surface of currently available PPE materials for many days. Recent evidence suggests that copper or copper zinc oxide composites with antimicrobial activity may inactivate virus. However, the mechanism for this is poorly understood at present. This project will test the hypothesis that PPE surfaces coated with copper or zinc oxide nanoparticles (NANO-PPE) will cause denaturation and degradation of viral biomolecules, thus leading to viral inactivation. The project sheds new insight into hybrid materials containing these biotic metals on the PPE surface, especially characterizing their interactions to biomaterials such as lipid, protein or RNA and the impact on structure-function. The RAPID project draws on several complementary areas of technology including, nanomaterial surface chemistry and processes, biophysics, biochemistry, and virology. This provides a unique interdisciplinary training environment for a diverse group of post-graduate, graduate and undergraduate students to engage in this cutting-edge research. Societal impact is that NANO-PPE stands to inactivate virus on contact, better protecting personnel from viral infection and thus limiting community spread, and long-term may help protect against other healthcare associated infections and drug resistant bacteria. This project is jointly funded by the Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) Division and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).The primary objective of this RAPID project is to gain a more fundamental understanding of nanoscale interactions of viral or viral-mimetic lipid, protein and RNA to PPE materials surface-coated with copper or copper/zinc oxide composites. The goals of the project are; 1) to fabricate PPE materials coated with copper and/or zinc oxide nanoparticles, mixtures and composites, 2) to characterize their nano-bio interactions and quantify the biomolecular denaturation and degradation caused by the nanoscale interaction, and 3) to place surrogate respiratory virus in contact with NANO-PPE and determine functional impact on viral titer and infectivity. Standard industrial scale processes such as electrospinning and deep coating will be used to coat the surface of PPE (face-mask, nitrile glove and surgical gown) with copper and zinc oxide nanoparticles. Surface interactions with the viral lipid, protein and RNA will be investigated by transmission electron microscopy, FT-IR, Raman/Photoluminescence, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Biomolecular denaturation and degradation will be quantified by 2-dimensional fluorescence difference spectroscopy, circular dichroism, gel electrophoresis, tryptic digestion and liquid chromatography/mass spectroscopy. Finally, viral titer and RT-PCR will be used to quantify impact of nanoscale interaction on biological activity. Overall, the experiments will probe structure-functional impact of nanoscale interaction of virus and its inhibition by coming into contact with NANO-PPE. The project will be integrated into a graduate class in Nanomedicine within a unit on nanoscale interactions and characterization methods and into the PI and co-PIs research programs involving undergraduate, masters, PhD and post-doctoral students. Products of this research will be translated to a corporate partner for rapid manufacturing and introduction into the healthcare and laboratory supply chain. This project is jointly funded by the Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) Division and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.