Wood, functionalized plastic, and polyphenols could limit virus spread
Viruses cause various human diseases, some of which are mild and occur seasonally, while others can spread across continents and emerge as pandemics. All kinds of viral outbreaks do impact the society in one way or another. Viruses spread through direct or close contact, but also through contaminated surfaces. Despite implementing the basic community level strategies like face masks, hand hygiene, quarantine, vaccination, and surface disinfection, the SARS-COV-2 was seen to spread in the community, infecting millions of people.
— To complement this existing arsenal, we need to develop more antiviral solutions, tells Doctoral Researcher Sailee Shroff.
Some wood species are naturally antiviral
In the study Shroff looked at how long viruses can persist on the most common surfaces used in daily life like wood and plastic, and also screened some nature-based compounds for their antiviral functionality.
—We found that different wood species like pine, spruce, birch, oak, eucalyptus, and alder naturally displayed broad-spectrum antiviral activity, with varying capacities to inactivate both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses, Shroff describes.
The antiviral efficacy of wood was linked to absorption inside its surface and the presence of wood extractives.
Functionalizing surfaces could limit virus spread
The second study evaluated the efficacy of a novel rosin-functionalized plastic surface against coronaviruses. The active component rosin rapidly reduced the infectivity of both seasonal human coronavirus OC43 and SARS-CoV-2 by actively leaking rosin from the plastic and making virus unable to continue infection after binding to cells.
The third study demonstrated that polyphenols have potent antiviral activity against different enteroviruses. The efficacy of these polyphenols significantly increased when functionalized on the surface of gold nanoparticles.
— The antiviral activity is hypothesized to be associated with their ability to bind to multiple sites on the virus which stabilizes the viruses and prevents them from binding and infecting cells, explains Shroff
These findings highlight the potential of wood, functionalized plastic surfaces and polyphenols as means to limit the spread of viruses. With the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, it is essential to continue exploring new ways to combat the virus and limit its spread in the community.
The dissertation of M.Sc Sailee Shroff is titled "Virus persistence on surfaces: studies on nature-based solutions". The public examination takes place on Friday 8 March 2024 at 12.00 in Ylistönrinne, Kem1 (YK306). The opponent is Associate Professor Tarja Sironen (University of Helsinki) and the custos is Professor Varpu Marjomäki (Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥). The examination is held in English.
Publication details
The dissertation "Virus persistence on surfaces: studies on nature-based solutions" is available in the JYX repository: