Antiviral surface functionalizations

Thanks to a new type of polyionic coating technology, TITK will also be able to provide various plastic surfaces and filter materials with effective and long-term stable antiviral properties in the future, thus making a valuable contribution to infection prophylaxis.

The polyelectrolytes used for this purpose are characterized by a large number of electrically charged groups, which enable them to act as ion exchangers and thus capture viruses. Through the interaction of the polyelectrolytes with the proteins of the viral envelope, they not only prevent the viruses from attaching to the host organism (e.g. humans), but also prevent virus replication. This means that no infection takes place.

Only polyelectrolytes with an extracellular antiviral mechanism of action, but without immunomodulatory activity, are selected for the functionalization of the plastic surfaces in order to exclude health risks.

Depending on the requirements of the end product, thin layers of covalently bonded polyelectrolytes (non-leaching) and non-covalently bonded multilayer systems (leaching) can be applied to various plastic matrices. The assessment of virus-inactivating efficacy is carried out in the in-house biology laboratory using a plaque assay based on ISO 21702 and ISO 18184. The enveloped and non-enveloped bacteriophages used serve as surrogate viruses for human pathogens such as SARS-COV2 and noroviruses, as they are similar to them in terms of their envelope structure and environmental stability.

In order to lay the foundation for conformity assessment in the course of approval and use of the plastic materials as medical products, the materials can also be subjected to various biocompatibility tests at TITK in accordance with the DIN EN ISO 10993 series of standards.