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The Advancing Antimicrobial Nanocoating Technologies Community Day was held as a key event during the Materials Week 2024 conference in Cyprus, from 17 to 21 June 2024. It was organized by the Horizon Europe projects NOVA, RELIANCE, STOP, SUSAAN and NANOBLOC, as a thriving networking opportunity, tailored to a diverse interdisciplinary audience while aiming to bridge communities, from scientists to industry leaders, in their collective fight against the transmission of disease through surfaces.

More than 30 people joined the event in person at the beachfront Crowne Plaza hotel in Limassol, eager to hear the latest insights from the community working on groundbreaking nanocoating innovations. The attendees were honored to have as opening keynote speaker Prof. Rui Reis, University of Minho in Braga and Guimarães, founding Director of the 3B’s Research Group, part of the Research Institute on Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics of the university. In his engaging talk on “Tissue engineering and antimicrobial strategies stemming from natural sources and biomimetic materials”, he highlighted the significance of advanced research approaches to combating the growing peril of antimicrobial resistance.

The first morning session, moderated by SUSAAN’s Fotis Katsaros, Research Director at the National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, unraveled the complexities of the next generation of antimicrobial nanomaterials and showcased the main innovation materials appealed to in each of the sister projects through an overview of the inorganic and biobased nanocoatings towards industrial and medical applications.

A specialized session designed for materials scientists interested in microbiology, microbial resistance and antimicrobial mechanisms delved deep into the critical challenges posed by microbial resistance. The presentation of Prof. Izabela Radecka, University of Wolverhampton walked participants though the multifaceted interactions between pathogens and antimicrobial surfaces, examined the escalating threat of resistance and addressed the hurdles in testing antimicrobial efficacy. Microbiological knowledge was flawlessly transferred to the field of materials science, fostering interdisciplinary understanding and innovation.

The topic of harmonizing antimicrobial efficacy with environmental integrity and health took the floor in the afternoon. The conversation encompassed the intricate interplay between antimicrobial action and its implications for living organisms and ecosystems, starting with an overview of the Safe and Sustainability by Design concept in the EU and further highlighting life cycle and social impact assessments through the lens of SUSAAN, RELIANCE, NOVA and NANOBLOC projects. Special emphasis was placed on the current regulatory frameworks that govern the deployment of these newly developed innovative materials and the challenges to commercialization stemming from the results heterogeneity from lab to pilot to industrial scale. The discussion derived a central conclusion that most regulations do not yet account for the technology used to produce the novel nanomaterials.

“It is noteworthy that, for instance, nanoparticles with surface treatments designed to enhance antimicrobial activity and/or mitigate toxicological behavior are not adequately addressed by the regulations or relevant guidelines, despite the Biocidal Product Regulation containing a definition and several specific provisions for nanomaterials”

                                                                     Giovanni Maria Condina, Regulatory Expert, Intertek

The absence of clear guidelines and comprehensive regulatory frameworks for complex antimicrobial nanomaterials could pose significant impediments to the go-to-market pathway of novel biocidal products, leading to potentially lowering the innovative approaches applied in the field.

The Community Day ended with industry experts outlining industrialization requirements, while underscoring the importance of a unified approach to validating antimicrobial performance under specific use conditions. During the coffee breaks, participants enjoyed an abundance of information on the works within each of the projects, presented in a session of 14 impressive posters.    

One Mission

The sister projects present and involved in the organization of the Community Day at Materials Week 2024 Conference are committed to a common goal:

●          Synergy Creation: to cultivate a collaborative ecosystem among projects, industries and scientific bodies working on antimicrobial coatings

●          Networking & Alignment: to strengthen connections and harmonize objectives within the antimicrobial coating community

●          Knowledge Sharing: to share lessons learned and promote smarter, more effective future endeavors while establishing a shared space for disseminating research, findings and upcoming events.

●          Awareness & Dialogue: to enhance mutual understanding and foster open discussions on community challenges.

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The international European Polymer Conference 2024 took place at the University Residential Center of Bertinoro, Italy from 26 to 30^th of May 2024. Organized by the European Polymer Federation (EPF) in collaboration with the Italian Association of Macromolecular Science and Technology (AIM), this year’s edition went under the theme of “Polymer Brushes”.

The development of surfaces with well-engineered properties is a significant challenge for chemists and physicists. In this context, polymer brushes, which consist of thin organic layers of polymers tethered by one end to a substrate, represent an extremely versatile tool in surface engineering. The impressive progress in precision polymerization methods, organic reactions and supramolecular strategies provide for achieving excellent control over the composition, architecture and length of tethered polymer chains, leading to an unprecedented variety of polymer brush structures.

EUPOC 2024 offered a great platform for discussing the main challenges this research field faces by bringing together worldwide scientists and students working on different aspects of polymer brushes (PB):

• Synthesis and processing of Polymer Brushes
• Advanced characterization of PB
• PB theory
• Modeling of PB Properties
• Bioinspired PB
• Responsive PB
• Cutting-edge applications of PB

Before an audience comprising mostly researchers like PhD students, postdoctoral and permanent scholars and professors as well as industry professionals committed to providing adapted responses to the new requirements, Maialen Argaiz from TEKNIKER presented an oral lecture titled “Smart leaching of essential oils from mesoporous silica nanoparticles”. It demonstrated the stimuli-responsive behaviour of polymer brushes attached into silica nanoparticles – a topic which is in the core of RELIANCE project.

The conference program comprised also lectures given by professors who summarized the latest polymer brushes updates and oral presentations delivered by researchers who updated the attendees with the most recent advances in the field of polymer brushes.

An exciting two days organized into two morning and afternoon conference sessions, featuring 30-minute plenary lecture and 20-minute oral communications, along with a separate poster session. The atmosphere was one of innovation and collaboration among a heterogeneous community of scientists from all over the world.

Warm and sunny Greece welcomed RELIANCE consortium from 5 to 6 June to discuss project’s work progress, challenges and next tasks. The event hosted by the University of Patras marked the middle of the project and was held in a hybrid mode in the modern industrial setting of T16 Boutique Office in Athens.

SCALABILITY – the key word of the meeting

RELIANCE has entered its result prolific phase where most of the lab work on the synthesis of the mesoporous silica nanoparticles has been completed and we have started making steps towards scaling up, nanoparticle synthesis process optimization and functionalization of the nanoparticles with copper. The coming months will be challenging as for scaling up, the project researchers will study the behavior of different types of polymers in terms of their response to temperature and pH changes by a smart release of the loaded essential oils. The surface modification with antimicrobial peptides (AMP) from chicken feathers and upscaling activities are also expected to be exciting due to the variability in the results when it comes to bacteria and viruses. The optimization of the scaling up processes is led by the objectives of safety, sustainability, yield, cost and of course, the key objective – bioactivity.

The upscaling of coating formulation synthesis continues vigorously as well as the development of hybrid sol gel inorganic coating for glass or stainless-steel surfaces. First results with samples will soon be tested by Arcelik on home appliances, to include assessment of the aesthetic requirements which must be met along with a preserved repellency. Some samples of coating deposition by PU digital printing were brought by Centexbel who have already achieved the desired scaling up of the coating formulation preparation and move on with performing tests with antimicrobial additives.

Promising findings were shared by partners regarding the nanotoxicity and ecotoxicity studies performed on lung cells and with algae and microorganisms found in nature, respectively. We also briefly touched upon the forthcoming regulatory evaluation in the context of regulatory perspectives of the newly developed within RELIANCE biocidal additive and regulatory roadmap per sectors and application.

Lastly, the consortium made some serious steps towards finalizing the initial exploitation plan for RELIANCE results and dedicated energy in discussing follow on dissemination and synergy activities with sister projects.

The hard-working days were rewarded with an enlightening tour of the Acropolis Museum organized by our gracious host. For about two hours, we got lost in the lands of ancient Greece and Greek Gods, travelling through time, hearing lots of interesting myths and legends, and seeing some cool and preserved artefacts. We ended the experience with a social dinner, immersing into a gourmet culinary experience and lively talks, overlooking the magnificent Acropolis, sinking in the dim light of the sunset.  

Polymers 2024 Conference was co-organized by the MDPI open access journal Polymers, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and BIOMAC project, and Exelisis Co. from May 28 to 31, 2024 at the prestigious War Museum in Athens, Greece. This year’s motto of the event “Polymers for a Safe and Sustainable Future” reflects the research efforts of the polymer scientists to transition to producing environmentally friendly, safe, and non-toxic polymers that could be fully recycled or are completely degradable shortly after their use.

RELIANCE project was presented with an oral presentation by David De Smet, a researcher in Textile Functionalization and Surface Modification in Centexbel. The title of his presentation was ‘A pathway to green polyurethanes for textiles’, showcasing the results of the wash resistant biobased PU coating during the session dedicated to “Biobased and Biodegradable Polymers – Green Monomer Synthesis By Design”.

“Polymers 2024” is an international conference covering the latest progress and innovations in the fields of polymers for the production of new materials and additives for a safe and sustainable world. The latest findings in the scientific field of polymers, with a particular emphasis on the synthesis of safe polymers with unique properties for human health and environmental sustainability and green polymer chemistry were in the focus of the discussions and conference sessions.

Find out more about the conference here.

The Panhellenic Chemical Engineering Conference (PESXM) is a reference point for the professional, scientific, and educational community of Greek Chemical Engineers, offering them the opportunity to meet, exchange ideas and results, make new connections, and establish new collaborations.

Taking place from 29 to 31 May, in the sunny city of Thessaloniki, the 2024 edition of PESXM main goals was to to explore, encourage, and promote the cooperation between institutions engaged in primary and applied research, with the goal of creating innovative products and/or processes capable of ensuring the robust operation of the domestic supply chain.

As such, the scope of the 14th PESXM included the following topics: Health and Safety, Quality Assurance, Applied Chemistry, Energy, Circular Economy and Zero Waste, Pharmaceutical Technology, Polymers and Nanocomposites, Physical Chemistry and Thermodynamics, and Transport Phenomena. The PESMX was co-hosted by all Chemical Engineering Departments and Institutes in Greece and Cyprus, including the University of Patras (UPAT).

Recent experimental studies have determined the effectiveness of small keratin-derived antimicrobial peptides (KAMPs) with no ordered structure against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. However, little is known about the structural dynamics of KAMPs, and how their aggregation propensity affects their antimicrobial activity. As a first step to their analysis, the team from UPAT has sought to elucidate the structural dynamics of KAMPs in dilute and semi-dilute solutions, in order to lay the groundwork for the study of their mechanism of action. Based on their findings, interaction motifs between residues (e.g. arginine-tyrosine among others) that lead to ordered structures were identified. By properly altering these motifs, one can design de novo AMPs and variants of KAMPs that have an unordered structure.

RELIANCE partners from UPAT did an presentation of their work during the conference, related to the structural dynamics of keratin-derived antimicrobial peptides (KAMPs) in dilute and semi-dilute solutions. In more detail, Panagiotis Panagopoulos Papageorgiou covered their approach on the examination of intra- and inter-peptide amino acid interactions that lead to the formation of ordered – albeit transient – secondary structure elements.

Read the full abstract here.

The spring blossoms in May, flourishing in possibilities for RELIANCE synergy activities as well. As an important tool to broaden the impact of collaborative EU projects, they remain key enablers for knowledge exchange and capacity-building, fostering opportunities for enlarging their reach.

RELIANCE and sister project MIRIA recently held a dedicated meeting to discuss more closely potential cooperation. MIRIA focuses on developing a wide range of antimicrobial nanocoatings for use in hospitals and other settings where cross-contamination and contagion risks are significantly high. The coatings they develop will be validated in a semi-real environment of an operating theater, very closely resembling the ones in hospitals. In addition to the differences in the coating deposition techniques applied in the projects, MIRIA’s coatings are primarily based on the use of nanopowders, with graphene being in the limelight. Besides having Millidyne as a common partner, another point of convergence relies on the employment of sol-gel coating formulations on various substrates, such as textiles, polymers, glass, and metals, while using same antiviral material like the Influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2.

Some actions deliberated upon by the projects’ teams were joint presentations in workshops and webinars, working together in the area of socio-economic impact analysis of the innovative coatings, testing and validation of these new technologies, comparing the antiviral and antimicrobial aspects and the efficiency of the different coatings.

Just few days earlier, RELIANCE and NANOBLOC coordination and Communication-Dissemination teams conducted a productive introductory discussion to explore the potential cooperation. Both projects focus on designing and developing high-performance, sustainable nanocoatings with enhanced antimicrobial, antiviral, and antifungal properties for various industrial applications. The teams discussed the differences in their coating deposition technologies too.

They identified high potential for collaborating, such as producing dissemination materials that highlight the variations in antimicrobial nanocoatings techniques and their impact on aging, durability, ecotoxicity, and microbial response efficiency. Another collaborative activity could involve publishing of co-authored recommendations for new standards in antimicrobial coatings characterization, tailored to specific applications.

By combining efforts, RELIANCE, MIRIA, and NANOBLOC can jointly explore diverse possibilities, enhancing the projects’ impact and working together to promote safer and healthier surfaces through innovative nanocoating technologies in the EU.

Stay tuned for more updates on our collaborative journey!

The 5^th edition of the International Conference “CBRNE Research and Innovation” was held at the “Palais de la Musique et des Congrès” in Strasbourg, France, March 19- 21, 2024. The event focused on addressing challenges related to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive materials and agents (CBRNE).

The conference covered various aspects including detection, identification, protection, decontamination, medical countermeasures, and risks and crisis management. Attendees, among whom researchers, responders and industry professionals, gathered to discuss and provide adapted responses to these critical challenges. The conference featured scientific updates, responders’ feedback, workshops, and demonstrations of innovative materials and technologies. Both civilian and military personnel contributed to an atmosphere of innovation and collaboration.

During the poster sessions, RELIANCE was showcased with 2 presentations from the University of Rome tor Vergata. Elisa Recchia presented a poster titled “Essential Oils as Potential Antimicrobial Agents for Biological Threats”. This topic was part of RELIANCE project activities, focused on the design and development of smart response self-disinfectant antimicrobial nanocoatings based on a new range of smart antimicrobial nanoparticles modified with bio-based bioactive compounds – antimicrobial peptides and essential oils.

Luca Fiore also presented a poster, titled: “Paper-based device for monitoring the effectiveness of environmentally friendly antimicrobial coating”, which demonstrated the ability to detect essential oils on the surface using a paper-based device, with the advantage of simplicity, sustainability, and providing broad and promising applications for detection of these compounds.

The conference provided a platform for sharing insights, fostering collaboration, and advancing research in the field of CBRNE agents.

Advancing Antimicrobial Nanocoating Technologies Community Day is a key event during the MaterialsWeek 2024!  Organized by the Horizon Europe projects  NOVA, RELIANCE, STOP, and SUSAAN, it is dedicated to the advancement of antimicrobial coating technologies.  An excellent networking opportunity, aiming to bridge diverse scientific communities, from scientists to industry leaders, in our collective fight against the transmission of disease through surfaces.
 

Join us on June 17^th in Limassol, Cyprus as we explore the latest in antimicrobial coating technologies, fostering a safer future!

Conference Programme

Conference Registration

RELIANCE project partners from The School of Engineering and Architecture (HEIA-FR) participated in the MPG Academy Workshop on Functional Coatings, organized by Molecular Plasma Group in Leuven, Belgium, on February 22 and 23, 2024.

Several leading-edge researchers presented their findings in an exciting program, in which the presenters shared their insights and expertise on utilizing Molecular Plasma Group’s cutting-edge plasma technology in their research endeavors. The presentations provided valuable information and served as a source of knowledge and inspiration for all attendees.

Among the participants representing universities, Research, and Technology Organizations (RTOs) who got actively involved in thought-provoking discussions and enthusiastic engagement transformed this event into a vibrant opportunity for collaboration and knowledge exchange.

The attendees’ expertise and valuable contributions played a pivotal role in making this workshop an exceptional success, with an impressive turnout of approximately 50 participants and an engaging lineup of 13 high-quality presentations.

The program included the following presentations:

• Plenary lecture – Michael R. Wertheimer, Polytechnique Montreal: Industrialized Plasma Processing: A Personal Perspective
• Fernando Alba Elias, Universidad de la Rioja: Applications of atmospheric cold plasma in the Food and Medical industry.
• Roberto Quintana, LIST: Atmospheric plasma deposition processes engineering for functional coatings.
• Navid Mostofi Sarkari, KUL-MTM: Application of MPG Aerosol-assisted atmospheric pressure plasma polymerization technology for developing ice phobic surfaces.
• Tijs Dekoster, IMEC: Aerosol assisted plasma deposition from a physicochemical point of view.
• Stijn Van Vrekhem, Centexbel: Plasma technology for the textile and plastics industry.
• Guillaume Nonglaton, CEA-LETI: Advancing Micro and Nanotechnologies for Healthcare: CEA-Leti’s Cutting-Edge Surface Functionalization Platform.  
• Camilo Rendon Piedrahita, LIST: Superhydrophobic coatings deposited using atmospheric pressure plasma.
• Arunjunai Raj Mahendran, Wood Kplus: Enhancing the Properties of sustainable materials through Plasma Deposition: Development and Applications.
• Lieze Dankers, KUL-MeBioS: Carboxylic acid linker-layer created with atmospheric cold plasma technology for standardized and improved biomolecule immobilization on polymer surfaces.
• Elena Contreras Garcia, CTCR: Adhesion improvement of footwear through plasma technology.
• Hatice Ferda Özgüzar, KUL-MTM: Aerosol-assisted atmospheric pressure plasma polymerization to create thiol-rich coatings on titanium implants using 3-(mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane.
• Dirk Vangeneugden, VITO: Faster battery charging thanks to plasma discharge.

We are united in the goal of breaking new ground in the realm of functional coatings, paving the way for state-of-the-art innovations that transcend specific industries.

More moments of exchange during the workshop below.