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A Department of Science and Technology funded startup has developed chemical free silver based disinfectant to fight the COVID 19 pandemic.
Details:
- Weinnovate Biosolutions, a Pune based startup supported jointly by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT), has come up with a non-alcoholic aqueous-based Colloidal Silver solution for disinfecting hands and environmental surfaces.
- This liquid is noninflammable and free of hazardous chemicals and can be an effective sanitizer to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 infection.
- It has been developed through the NanoAgCide technology
- This sanitizer is based on the ability of the silver nanoparticles to prevent the synthesis of viral negative-strand RNA and viral budding.
- An Indian patent has been filed for the process of making colloidal silver, and a test license for making hand sanitizers and disinfectants has been granted.
Nanoparticles:
- Nanoparticles are rapidly emerging as effective solutions to a variety of issues related to COVID-19, from theranostics (therapy plus diagnostics) to disinfection and imaging.
- The relevance of nanoparticles is owing to their size (less than 100 nm), which is comparable to that of COVID-19 virus, and a plethora of functionalities such as targeting and drug delivery that can be tailored to match the needs.