Tackling COVID-19 Using Antiviral Nanocoating's-Recent Progress and Future Challenges.

In the current situation of the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there is a worldwide demand for the protection of regular handling surfaces from viral transmission to restrict the spread of COVID-19 infection. To tackle this challenge, researchers and scientists are continuously working on novel antiviral nanocoatings to make various substrates capable of arresting the spread of such pathogens. These nanocoatings systems include metal/metal oxide nanoparticles, electrospun antiviral polymer nanofibers, antiviral polymer nanoparticles, graphene family nanomaterials, and etched nanostructures. The antiviral mechanism of these systems involves depletion of the spike glycoprotein that anchors to surfaces by the nanocoating and makes the spike glycoprotein and viral nucleotides inactive; however, the nature of the interaction between the spike proteins and virus depends on the type of nanostructure and a surface charge over the coating surface. In this article, the current scenario of COVID-19 and how it can be tackled using antiviral nanocoatings from the further transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), along with their different mode of action, are discussed. Additionally, it is also highlighted different types of nanocoatings developed for various substrates to encounter transmission of SARS-CoV-2, future research areas along with the current challenges related to it, and how these challenges can be resolved.

Recent Advancement of Functional Hydrogels toward Diabetic Wound Management.

Wound healing is a dynamic, orchestrated process comprising partially overlapping phases of hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. This programmed process, dysregulated in diabetic individuals, results in chronic diabetic wounds. The normal process of healing halts at the inflammatory stage, and this prolonged inflammatory phase is characteristic of diabetic wounds. There are a few U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved skin substitutes; dermal matrixes are commercially available to manage diabetic wounds. However, expensiveness and nonresponsiveness in a few instances are the major limitations of such modalities. To address the issues, several treatment strategies have been exploited to treat chronic wounds; among them hydrogel-based systems showed promise due to favorable properties such as excellent absorption capabilities, porous structure, tunable mechanical strength, and biocompatibility. In the past two decades, hydrogels have become one of the most acceptable systems in the field of wound dressing material, offering single functionality to multifunctionality. This review focuses on the advancement of functional hydrogels explored for diabetic wound management. The process of diabetic wound healing is discussed in the light of the normal healing process, and the role of macrophages in the process is explained. This review also discusses the different approaches to treat diabetic wounds using functional hydrogels, along with their future opportunities.

In vivo biocompatible shape memory polyester derived from recycled polycarbonate e-waste for biomedical application.

From the last few decades, the usage of polycarbonate (PC) has tremendously increased due to its engineering properties such as outstanding mechanical strength, superior toughness, and good optical transparency. Owning to these properties, PC has widespread applications in the field of electronics, construction, data storage, automotive industry and subsequently resulted in an ever-increasing volume of post-consumer PC e-waste, which also increases the environmental pollution with time due to its nonbiodegradability nature. Therefore, recycling of PC has become a significant challenge throughout the globe. Herein, we first time reported synthesis of a family of low-cost biodegradable and biocompatible biopolymers using solvent and catalyst free melt polycondensation reaction of recycled PC e-waste derived monomer bis(hydroxyethyl ether) of bisphenol A (BHEEB) along with other renewable resources such as sebacic acid, citric acid and mannitol. The synthesis of the polyester was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, XRD and DSC. The mechanical properties and biodegradation behaviour of the polyester can be fine-tuned by simply varying the monomer feed ratio. In addition to that, the polyester demonstrated excellent shape memory property in ambient temperature along with outstanding recovery properties. In addition to this, the synthesized polyester showed exceptional in vitro and in vivo cytocompatibility as well as cell proliferation rate against mouse fibroblast cells (NIH-3 T3) and biocompatibility, respectively. Therefore, the novel polyesters derived from recycled PC e-waste may be potential resorbable biomaterial for tissue engineering applications in future.

Natural polysaccharide derived carbon dot based in situ facile green synthesis of silver nanoparticles: Synergistic effect on breast cancer.

Over the decades, several nanoparticles have been developed for biomedical applications, still facile green synthesis derived nanoparticles showed tremendous attraction due to avoid of toxic solvent, ease of synthesis and low cost. Here, facile one pot in situ green synthesis is reported to develop silver nanoparticles with the aid of natural polysaccharide presented in sweet lemon peel waste derived carbon dot (CD) acted as a reducing and stabilizing agent at room temperature. The synthesis of CD and CD based silver nanoparticles (CD@AgNPs) was characterized by FTIR, UV-vis spectroscopy, fluorescence spectrophotometer, XRD and TEM. CD@AgNPs exhibited excellent antimicrobial activity against E. coli at very low concentration of 5.0 µg/ml. Interestingly, CD showed selective cytotoxicity against MCF7 breast cancer cells with the IC50 of 10 µg/ml while CD@AgNPs demonstrated synergistic effect on cytotoxicity. It is found that the cells death of MCF7 cells mainly occurred through the up-regulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Therefore, the synthesized CD@AgNPs may show an efficient anticancer agent for targeted breast cancer therapy in future.

Carbon dots: The next generation platform for biomedical applications.

Among the wide range of carbon family nanomaterials, carbon dots (CDs) one of the promising candidate which has attracted tremendous attention due to its unique advantages such as facile synthesis procedure, easy surface functionalization, outstanding water solubility, low toxicity and excellent photo-physical properties. Due to these unique advantages, CDs are extensively used in catalysis, electronics, sensing, power as well as in biological sectors. In this review we will discuss recent progress in synthesis, structure and fluorescence properties of CDs with special highlight on its biomedical applications, more precisely we will highlight on CDs, for drug/gene delivery, bioimaging and photothermal and photodynamic therapy applications. Furthermore, we discuss the current challenges and future perspective of CDs in the field of biomedical sector.

Biomedical Applications of Graphene Nanomaterials and Beyond.

Graphene nanomaterials have been considered as a novel class of nanomaterials that show exceptional structural, optical, thermal, electrical, and mechanical properties. As a consequence, it has been extensively studied in various fields including electronics, energy, catalysis, sensing, and biomedical fields. In the previous couple of years, a significant number of studies have been done on graphene-based nanomaterials, where it is utilized in a wide range of bioapplications that includes delivery of small molecule drugs/genes, biosensing, tissue engineering, bioimaging, and photothermal and photodynamic therapies because of its excellent aqueous processability, surface functionalizability, outstanding electrical and mechanical properties, tunable fluorescence properties, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).Therefore, it is necessary to get detailed knowledge about it. In this review, we will highlight the various synthesis procedures of graphene family nanomaterials including graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and graphene quantum dots (GQDs) as well as their biomedical applications. We will also highlight the biocompatibity of graphene nanomaterials as well as its possible risk factors for bioapplications. In conclusion, we will outline the future perspective and current challenges of graphene nanomaterials for clinical applications.