2024

Shroff, Sailee

The emergence of new viruses is always a global health threat, as they have the potential to cause widespread outbreaks. Viruses can spread through direct transmission but also via contaminated surfaces. The recent COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, highlighted the importance of maintaining clean public spaces to minimize the transmission risk through surfaces. While surface disinfection remains a practical solution, it can be laborious, time-consuming, costly, and environmentally harmful. This dissertation has examined nature-derived antiviral surface solutions to complement traditional strategies. Six wood species were investigated for their antiviral properties in the first study. Most of the wood species displayed broad-spectrum antiviral activity, with varying capacities to inactivate both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. The antiviral efficacy of wood was hypothesized to be attributed to its porous nature and the presence of wood extractives. The second study evaluated the efficacy of a tall oil rosin-functionalized plastic surface against coronaviruses. The active component rosin rapidly reduced the infectivity of both seasonal human coronavirus OC43 and SARS-CoV-2 without apparent changes in the virion structure, as evidenced by different imaging techniques. The third study demonstrated that polyphenols have potent antiviral activity against different serotypes of 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 capsid. This interaction may result in the super stabilization of the virion, preventing the virus's binding to its host cells.