One of the most effective tools for the disinfection of environments from harmful germs is the use of ultraviolet radiation in the C band. This technique is widely used to sanitize environments or instrumentation from viruses and bacteria and, during the pandemic induced by the SARS-CoV virus- 2, has been an important resource for hospitals and intensive care rooms.
Its antiseptic action of UV-C radiation is produced by its interaction with macromolecules (such as nucleid acids) where it causes the breakdown of chemical bonds. However, this can happen both with viral RNA and with DNA and RNA of healthy cells: this is why this radiation is useful for the elimination of viruses and bacteria but harmful to humans, where it can cause inflammatory realizations or even genetic modifications and oncological pathologies. However, recently the journal Nature Communications has published some papers in which and at controlled doses, UV radiation has been applied for the sanitation of explant organs from patients with hepatitis.
This project aims to study an innovative procedure to apply UV-C radiation safely also on humans (both as sanitization and as a cure) for the elimination of viruses of the coronavirus family. This is made possible by a careful calibration of the radiation with the optical and acoustic characteristics of the viral capsid, which is made to act as both optical and acoustic resonator: in this way, with a process similar to heating the water molecules with microwave radiation, the The project aims to transfer both light intensity and thermal power exclusively to the viral nanovesicles in order to induce their destruction in a selective way, that is, without touching the surrounding healthy tissue.
The proposed technique could be specialized and applied to any type of micro-organism of nanometric size.
