The development of an antimicrobial coating for fabric and surfaces

Giftgowns是一家总部位于多伦多的公司，生产和销售舒适、风格化的医院长袍，供消费者带到医院，或作为礼物送给住在医院的朋友或亲人。这些长袍很受欢迎，但与标准问题不同，实用的“蓝色医院长袍”每天都要清洗和消毒，它们可能更容易受到医疗保健相关感染（HCAI）的影响，因为它们在患者住院期间可能不会经常清洗。许多专业的长袍制造商都在相同的情况下，因为他们缺乏抗菌性能，这将提供安心的病人需要长期住院。Giftgowns联系了Seneca的生物科学和应用化学学院，帮助他们解决为礼服提供抗菌性能的挑战。Seneca和Giftgowns通过NSERC Engage for Colleges赠款合作开发了一种抗菌原型喷雾剂，该喷雾剂是由精油（EO），特别是百里酚（牛至EO的主要成分）封装成纳米颗粒而开发的。在这项后续工作中，来自Seneca生物科学和应用化学学院的两名研究助理（RA）将在Barkev Keoshkerian教授和Frank Merante教授的监督下研究其他精油的功效，以及其他实验提取物，这将导致更有效和持久的抗菌特性。这个后续研究项目的目的是开发一种简单，可扩展和具有成本效益的纳米制造颗粒，可以用作抗菌载体和控释载体，使用可持续，环保，抗菌材料。这种产品，以及制造和应用它所需的过程，将是一个新的，增强的礼品礼服产品。

Giftgowns, a Toronto-based company, manufactures and sells comfortable, stylized hospital gowns for consumers to bring with them to the hospital or give as a gift to friends or loved ones staying in the hospital. The gowns are popular but, unlike the standard issue, utilitarian "blue hospital gowns", which are washed and sterilized every day, they may be more susceptible to healthcare-associated infection (HCAI) as they may not be washed as frequently during a patient's hospital stay. Many specialized gown manufacturers are in the same situation as Giftgowns in that they lack the anti-microbial properties which would provide peace of mind to patients requiring long hospital stays. Giftgowns approached Seneca's School of Biological Sciences and Applied Chemistry to help them solve the challenge of providing anti-bacterial properties to their gowns. Seneca and Giftgowns collaborated with funding through an NSERC Engage for Colleges grant to develop an anti-bacterial prototype spray, which was developed from the encapsulation of essential oils (EO), specifically thymol (a major component of oregano EO) into nano-particles. In this follow up work, two research assistants (RAs) from Seneca School of Biological Science and Applied Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Barkev Keoshkerian and Professor Frank Merante will investigate the efficacy of other essential oils, as well as other experimental extracts, which will result in more effective and persistent anti-microbial properties. This follow on research project is designed with the purpose of developing a simple, scalable and cost efficient nanofabricated-particle that can function as an anti-microbial carrier and controlled release vehicle using sustainable, eco-friendly, anti-microbial materials. This product, and the processes needed to manufacture and apply it, will be a new, enhanced offering for Giftgowns.