Contact killing of COVID-19 by copper-based nanoparticles.

这项提案的主要目标是破译羧甲基纤维素铜纳米颗粒对新冠肺炎(正式名称为SARS-CoV-2)的杀灭效果。这些研究将与加拿大公司Sani Marc Group合作进行。铜和铜合金表面的微生物会通过一种名为铜介导式“接触杀灭”的过程被迅速杀死。此外，最近的一项研究表明，新冠肺炎暴露在铜表面后是不可行的。重要的是，杀死微生物所需的铜浓度对人类无毒。由于实用和经济的原因，通过在无生命的表面上涂覆铜来创建“自我消毒表面”是困难的。然而，一个令人兴奋的途径是最近发现的CMC-Cu作为一步消毒剂的有效替代品，显著降低了表面和无生命物体上的微生物水平。使用一种能够在生物安全二级实验室生产基于MLV的新冠肺炎假型颗粒的创新方法，我们将研究新冠肺炎的稳定性，以及在没有其他试剂或选定的SANI MARC消毒剂产品存在的情况下，新冠肺炎在CMC-铜存在下附着和感染靶细胞的能力。 在接下来的一年里，我们的研究计划将集中在以下具体目标上。 1.生产含有报告基因的基于MLV的新冠肺炎钉状伪型颗粒，该基因能够量化病毒进入宿主细胞的程度。 2.CMC-Cu介导的新冠肺炎刺突假型颗粒失活的作用方式。 3.测定新冠肺炎尖峰假型粒子在羧甲基纤维素-铜存在下的致死方式。 根据该计划培训的学生将获得多学科方法的教育/培训，包括纳米技术、病毒学、生物化学、分子和细胞生物学领域。不区分少数族裔的学生将发展关键技能，使他们能够获得加拿大生物技术部门和/或学术研究社区训练有素的科学家的地位。

The primary goal of this proposal is to decipher the virucidal efficacy of carboxymethyl cellulose copper (CMC-Cu) nanoparticles against COVID-19 (formally named SARS-CoV-2). The studies will be performed in partnership with the Canadian company Sani Marc Group. Microbes are rapidly killed on surfaces of copper and copper alloys through a process named copper-mediated "contact killing". Furthermore, a recent study has revealed that COVID-19 is not viable upon exposure to copper surfaces. Of significance, copper concentrations required to kill microbes are not toxic for humans. Creating "self-disinfecting surfaces" by coating inanimate surfaces with copper is difficult to apply for practical and economic reasons. However, an exciting avenue is the recent discovery of CMC-Cu as an effective alternative to one-step disinfectant agent that significantly reduces microbial levels on surfaces and inanimate objects. Using an innovative method enabling production of MLV-based COVID-19 pseudotyped particles in a biosafety level 2 laboratory, we will investigate COVID-19 stability and its ability to attach and infect target cells in the presence of CMC-Cu in the absence of other reagent or in the presence of selected Sani Marc's disinfectant products. During the next year, we will focus our research program on the following specific aims. 1. Production of MLV-based COVID-19 Spike-pseudotyped particles containing a reporter gene that enables quantification of virus entry into host cells. 2. Mode of action of CMC-Cu-mediated inactivation of COVID-19 Spike-pseudotyped particles. 3. Determination of how are COVID-19 Spike-pseudotyped particles killed in the presence of CMC-Cu. Students trained under this program will acquire education/training in multidisciplinary approaches, including areas of nanotechnology, virology, biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology. Students without distinction as to minorities will develop critical skills, allowing them to gain the status of highly trained scientists for the Canadian biotech sector and/or academic research community.