Grant: Project Grant - PA: Pandemic Preparedness and Health Emergencies Research

The development of a highly effective, easy-to-implement antimicrobial method for protection against direct transmission through infectious droplets is considered a promising cure in public health at the national and global levels. As one of the options, spunbond nonwoven/meltblown polypropylene (PP) fabrics have been mainly used for the fabrication of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks/respirators and decontamination garments. Currently, filtration in the PPE fabrics depends on mesh size and biological contaminants. Once these contaminants are captured on the surface of such fabrics, they can survive from a few hours to several days, raising safety concerns about contact transmission from virus/bacteria-laden fabrics of masks and garments during use and disposal. Despite their importance, very little scientific progress has been made on antimicrobial fabric technologies due to significant technical challenges. In line with this demand, Dr. Choi at the Univ. of Alberta has developed visible light-responsive, universal pathogen negation substance, which can easily be applied to any conventional fabrics of face masks and PPE, and efficiently inactivate infectious virus and bacteria through physical contact. This technology is very promising thanks to its unique approach and for overcoming the fundamental limitations of conventional metal/biochemical/carbon-based antimicrobial materials. This project will be focused on manufacturing prototype antimicrobial masks/respirators and garments, testing their performance (filtration efficiency, pressure drop), and optimizing the antimicrobial effectiveness of the PPE coating to meet the desired ASTM/NIOSH/Health Canada standards. Once awarded, the funding will allow us to mature our antimicrobial technology through performance tests using prototype products, rendering it readily available for translation to industry sectors in an expedited fashion.