ABSTRACT
The adsorption of viruses from aqueous solution is frequently performed to detect viruses. Charged filtration materials capture viruses via electrostatic interactions, but lack the specificity of biological virus-binding substances like heparin. Herein, we present three methods to immobilize heparin-mimicking, virus-binding polymers to a filter material. Two mussel-inspired approaches are used, based on dopamine or mussel-inspired dendritic polyglycerol, and post-functionalized with a block-copolymer consisting of linear polyglycerol sulfate and amino groups as anchor (lPGS-b-NH2). As third method, a polymer coating based on lPGS with benzophenone anchor groups is tested (lPGS-b-BPh). All three methods yield dense and stable coatings. A positively charged dye serves as a tool to quantitatively analyze the sulfate content on coated fleece. Especially lPGS-b-BPh is shown to be a dense polymer brush coating with about 0.1 polymer chains per nm2. Proteins adsorb to the lPGS coated materials depending on their charge, as shown for lysozyme and human serum albumin. Finally, herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can be removed from solution upon incubation with coated fleece materials by about 90% and 45%, respectively. In summary, the presented techniques may be a useful tool to collect viruses from aqueous environments. © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Applied Polymer Science published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
ABSTRACT
A global pandemic caused by COVID-19 virus since December 2019 has developed into a fearsome situation more than any common global contagion. In combating COVID-19 worldwide, governments instigated a precautionary cordon sanitaire in various degrees. Live music, cinema and film festivals were inevitably cancelled, causing artists to become alienated from their audience. This paper aims to illuminate how practitioners of the creative industry cope with the drastic disruption due to the COVID-19 outbreak as well as the means of regenerating 'life', which refers to that of a creative artist in a narrower sense, and to that of the industry in a broader sense. Adopting a combined methodology of autoethnography and virtual ethnography, the authors explore their encounters with the informants and the development of the creative arts scene. The subject of disruption and regeneration in the creative arts industry is approached through feasible methods and tools they could render in this unique lived experience. They hope to construct a view containing some perspectives on the transcendence of creative practitioners from the disruption to the survival of the pandemic's impact, as well as the regeneration of how creative arts would persevere in the 'new normal' of the post-COVID-19 era.