Deactivation potential of cold atmospheric plasma for viruses and bacteria in exhalation-generated aerosol droplets

低温大气等离子体的使用在过去几年中引起了人们的广泛关注，并已在生物医学上得到了广泛应用。Covid - 19大流行增加了对气溶胶颗粒中病毒灭活的需求。原子模拟可以为这个过程提供基本的见解。然而，对离子和振动激发分子的研究需要进一步的研究。大多数生物，包括冠状病毒，都有一层液体膜包裹着它们。因此，有必要了解等离子体和液体之间进行了哪些相互作用，在等离子体物种到达生物有机体表面之前。为了更好地理解这种行为，我们将把实验气溶胶测量与分子动力学（MD）模拟结合起来，研究气态活性氧和活性氮与水分子之间的化学反应。如果等离子体产生的带电物质在到达病毒之前重组，我们将回答这个研究问题。我们将研究血浆反应物质对冠状病毒致病性、传播和进化中起关键作用的刺突糖蛋白结构的影响。该项目的目的是在考虑到液体层的情况下，找到理想的血浆消毒工艺条件。

The use of cold atmospheric plasma has attracted a lot of attention over the past few years and has already found many biomedical applications. The Covid 19 pandemic has increased the demand for the inactivation of viruses in aerosol particles. Atomistic simulations can provide fundamental insights into this process. However, the investigation of ions, and vibrationally excited molecules needs further investigations. Most bio-organisms, including the Corona virus, have a liquid film surrounding them. Therefore, it is necessary to understand which interactions between the plasma and the liquid reactions carried out, before the plasma species reach the surface of the bio-organisms. To gain a better understanding of this behavior, we will combine experimental aerosol measurements with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to examine the chemical reactions between gaseous reactive oxygen and nitrogen species and water molecules. We will answer the research question if the plasma generated charged species recombine before they reach the virus. We will study the effect of plasma reactive species on the structure of the spike (S) glycoprotein, that plays a key role in the pathogenicity, transmission, and evolution of coronaviruses. The aim of the project is to find ideal process conditions for plasma disinfection taking into account liquid layers.