INTERVENTION OF NOVEL NANOTECHNOLOGY IN FIGHT

AGAINST COVID – 19
Ibrahim Aminu Shehu, Abubakar Mukhtar, PG Researcher, School of Pharmacy, Sharda University, Greater Noida, India
Presented for SPER National E-poster Competition
Organized by
Society of Pharmaceutical Education & Research (SPER)
Theme: “Impact of Social Distancing, Lockdown and Innovations on the spread of COVID – 19”

Abstract Introduction Biosensors for COVID – 19 diagnosis

Coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) is a contagious Biosensors are devices used to detect the concentration of biomolecule, a microorganism a
The outbreak of pandemic COVID-19 mounts
disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome biological structure or other biological analytes. They be made up of three parts: a sensing
overall pressure on healthcare and modern
coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The rate at which bioreceptor component that recognizes the analyte and produces a signal, a signal
societies. The intervention of nanotechnology will
play a vital role in bringing multi-disciplinary COVID – 19 virus spread from epidemic to pandemic transducer, and a reader device.

ways of developing affordable, reliable, and within a short period is quite alarming. As of today16

powerful tools for diagnosis, personal protection, May 2020 the WHO indicates that

and new effective medicines. about 4,643,176 cases ware recorded in 213

Moreover, employing nanosensors will countries, and territories, with around 308,927 deaths

significantly aid to diagnose the viruses even on globally.

asymptomatic patients. Likewise, the use of However, to mitigate the viral spread, several

nanoscale fibers can optimize the protection strategies have been adopted by the governments and

affinity of personal protective equipment and health agencies, amongst which are, total lockdown,

facemasks and allows their reusability for medical social distance policy et al. It was believed that,

and economical benefit. continue survival in lockdown is no longer

This research designed purposely to highlight the sustainable, for social, and economical reasons. To

perspective contributions of nanotechnology in the resolve this, the scientific community must put hands Fig 2: Biosensors
war against COVID-19 pandemic on deck to establish the standard cure of the virus by Applications of Biosensors on COVID – 19 Virus Detection
inventing new drugs, vaccines, powerful diagnostic
Jing Wang et al. developed an alternative test method in the form of an optical biosensor.
Keywords: COVID-19, Nanotechnology, tools, and other technological innovations that will
 The sensor is based on tiny structures of gold nanoislands, on a glass substrate.
Nanosensors, Nanoscale fibers, diagnostic tools, mitigate the many clinical and public health
 The sensor artificially produced DNA receptors that match specific RNA sequences of
New drug, management challenges.
the SARS-CoV-2 in which are grafted onto the nanoislands.
Applications of nanoparticles on COVID – 19 Virus
 The technology used in this sensor is called Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance
According to the available literature, “nanoparticles (NPs) of various metals and metal oxides like Zinc
(LSPR).
Oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs), Cuprous Oxide nanoparticles (CuONPs), Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs),
 This is an optical phenomenon that occurs in metallic nanostructures: When excited, they
Nanosized Copper (I) Iodide particles (CuINPs), Gold nanoparticles on Silica nanoparticles (Au-SiO2NPs)
modulate the incident light in a specific wavelength range and create a plasmonic near-
and some Quaternary ammonium cations are very promising to inactivate the virus and are well proven”.
field around the nanostructure.
However, AgNP-based nanosystems and nanomaterials are suitable alternatives for drug deliconvinced and
 An optical sensor located on the back of the sensor can be used to measure this change
mitigation of the transmission of the virus from nonliving articles to living body cells by touch..
and thus determine whether the sample contains the RNA strands in question

The coronavirus is a so-called RNA virus: Its genome does not consist of a DNA double
strand as in living organisms, but of a single RNA strand. The receptors on the sensor
are therefore the complementary sequences to the virus' unique RNA sequences, which
can reliably identify the virus.

Fig 1: show the method of coating facemask or personal protective equipment using AgNPs to enhance
their protection affinity in mitigation of COVID – 19 spread and allows their reusability after washing.

Conclusion:
This study shows that nanotechnology can serve as an alternative way to adopt in the global fight against
COVID-19 pandemic. Though more research are needed on nanotechnology, in order to explore its full Fig 3: Applications of Biosensors on COVID – 19 Virus Detection
potentiality in fight against the virus. References
1. Faisal N., Kumar K. Polymer and metal nanocomposites in biomedical applications.
Acknowledgement Biointerface Res. Appl. Chem. 2017;7:2286–2294.
2. Guangyu Qiu et al. Dual-Functional Plasmonic Photothermal Biosensors for Highly
The authors acknowledge the immense contribution given by Dr. Gunjan ( Asst. Professor, School of
Accurate Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 Detection. ASCNANO. 2020;
Pharmacy, Sharda University, Greater Noida. 21:34:50.