| NSF Org: |
CBET Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | April 30, 2020 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | April 30, 2020 |
| Award Number: | 2030217 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Nora Savage
nosavage@nsf.gov (703)292-7949 CBET Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | June 1, 2020 |
| End Date: | May 31, 2022 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $152,454.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $152,454.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
500 S LIMESTONE LEXINGTON KY US 40526-0001 (859)257-9420 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
500 S. Limestone, 109 Kinkead Ha LEXINGTON KY US 40526-0001 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
COVID-19 Research, EPSCoR Co-Funding |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
The current coronavirus pandemic has created a severe societal health issue, resulting in significant economic problems across the globe. The novel coronavirus particles (ten thousandths of a millimeter) are covered in club-shaped ?S-protein? spikes, which give it its crown-like, or coronal, appearance. These protein spikes allow the virus to readily enter host cells once in the body, resulting in a highly infectious and readily transmissible disease. This project will develop layered membrane-based materials that are capable of deactivating these spike proteins. With humid air containing corona virus droplets, the developed functionalized membranes will enable attachment to the protein spikes of the coronavirus and disarm the virus. In addition, the thin membrane architecture should result in a highly breathable mask. This project will result in the development of advanced barrier devices (such as, face masks) capable of recognition-based capturing and deactivating coronavirus-type active particles. The integration of science between advanced materials and medical/biological sciences will have immense societal impact. This RAPID effort will also enhance interactions with industries for bringing the application of functionalized membrane and virus recognition technology to the medical field and industrial manufacturing sector where airborne virus or other nanoparticles present a potential health hazard. Students with diverse background will be exposed to multidisciplinary research involving chemical/environmental engineering, biological chemistry, and electrical engineering. 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 RAPID project will involve the development of functionalized, open structured and highly breathable membranes with attached enzymes and/or antibodies. This will allow for a significant improvement in the efficacy and safety of the diffusion and impact filtration mechanisms and subsequent deactivation parameters for PPE. This innovative RAPID project will result in the development of new materials which incorporate integration of easily adaptable virus cleavage and recognition materials on existing cellulosic and other membrane polymer films which are easily scalable. The overall project will involve enzyme/antibody attachment on surfaces, and material evaluation using synthetic and plasmonic aerosol nanoparticles functionalized with spike glycoprotein found in corona virus. This novel approach includes means for maintaining hydration for enzyme activity. The plasmonic particles will act as ?smart? labels to determine both particle location in the material and enzyme-protein interactions. The integrated research on functionalized membranes, virus particle quantification approaches, and novel virus analogs will advance the state of the art in anti-viral barrier materials while deepening fundamental understanding of virus-enzyme-antibody interactions on surfaces. This RAPID effort will also enhance additional interactions with industries for bringing the application of functionalized membrane and virus recognition technology to the medical field and industrial manufacturing sector where airborne virus or other nanoparticles present a potential health hazard. Students with diversified background will be exposed to multidisciplinary research involving chemical/environmental engineering, biological chemistry, and electrical engineering.
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.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant damage to the health, economy, and overall wellbeing of global societies, highlighting the important of developing new materials to reduce viral spread. This coronavirus contains several proteins, but one of most interest is the spike protein (or S-Protein), which oversees the infection of an individual. By disrupting this protein, one could deactivate the virus' ability to spread and infect other healthy people, resulting in a significantly lower impact on societal conditions. Our research investigated creating a membrane-based mask and filter that can better capture virus-sized particles in the air (compared to existing commercial options), as well as incorporate a non-toxic enzyme coating that could deactivate the S-protein under low moisture conditions, thus further reducing the infectivity rate.
There is significant intellectual merit to this research, as it displays a promising advance in these fields' knowledge. Our membrane mask/filter was able to capture smaller air-borne particles, compared to common existing options, as well as maintain comfortable breathability for longer periods of time. Furthermore, our mask was able to deactivate S-protein on the filter surface after only 30 seconds of contact time in a low moisture environment. This marks a significant advacement in the field of membrane science, as similar membranes have been used in water filtration for removal of viral pollutants, but are not commonly transitioned into air filtration applications.
Additional work was done with hollow fiber membranes to capture similar air-borne particles in an enclosed environment setting with the goal of removing virus particles from the surrounding air. Obtained in a wet lab, these results are of great importance to the scientific community and could be used by the medical/health industry to develop the next-generation of face masks and enclosed space filters to combat current and future pandemics associated with airborne viruses. Overall, these results stimulated trans-disciplinary research by converging several different fields, such as chemical, electrical and materials engineering, as well as biochemistry, medical health and personal protective equipment. This collaboration was necessary to tackle this research project, and allowed for enhanced training opportunities outside of our respective disciplines.
These research results have broad impacts to the general global public, as it marks an example of increased protection with respiratory viruses (i.e., COVID-19). With masks and filters using this technology, future pandemics will not damage the national economy as drastically, while decreasing the overall hospitalization (and subsequent death count) that the disease causes. Furthermore, as these mask filters could last longer than existing options, the landfill waste impact from mask disposal could be significantly reduced, thus increasing sustainable practices during pandemics. From this point on, the next generation of scientists and engineers can utilize these results to start developing processes for upscaled manufacturing of such materials.
Last Modified: 07/18/2022
Modified by: Dibakar Bhattacharyya
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