Nanotechnology can play its part in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. More than a dozen scientists, including ICREA Prof. Arben Merkoçi, Group Leader at the ICN2, have analysed the role of nanotechnology in prevention, therapeutics, diagnostics and other facets needed to address this and future pandemics.
The COVID-19 global emergency is making societies face unprecedented challenges. The common interest, in the name of health, must be addressed in the future having in mind the “One Health” concept, relying on evidence that the well-being of humans is strictly interconnected with that of animals and the environment.
To achieve this goal, nanotechnology offers a number of tools to fight viruses, both outside and inside the host. A recent work in ACS Nano discusses the role of nanotechnology in the fight against COVID-19 encompassing diverse fields such as virology, biology, medicine, engineering, chemistry, materials science, and computational science. ICREA Prof. Arben Merkoçi, Group Leader of the ICN2 Nanobioelectronics and Biosensors Group, is one of its authors.
The work highlights the importance of nanotechnology in disease prevention and therapeutics, as well as diagnostics, with potential to support the development of simple, fast, and cost-effective nanotechnology-based assays to monitor the presence of SARS-CoV-2 and related biomarkers. In summary, the authors believe nanotechnology is critical in counteracting COVID-19 and will be vital when preparing for future pandemics.
Article reference:
Carsten Weiss, Marie Carriere, Laura Fusco, Ilaria Capua, Jose Angel Regla-Nava, Matteo Pasquali, James A. Scott, Flavia Vitale, Mehmet Altay Unal, Cecilia Mattevi, Davide Bedognetti, Arben Merkoçi, Ennio Tasciotti, Açelya Yilmazer, Yury Gogotsi, Francesco Stellacci, and Lucia Gemma Delogu. Toward Nanotechnology-Enabled Approaches against the COVID-19 Pandemic. ACS Nano 2020. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c03697