Synchronized impulsive stimulated Raman scattering to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 for slowing and stopping the transmission of COVID-19

同步脉冲受激拉曼散射可灭活 SARS-CoV-2，从而减缓和阻止 COVID-19 的传播

• 批准号: 555266-2020
• 负责人: Ozaki, Tsuneyuki
• 金额: $ 3.64万
• 依托单位: Institut national de la recherche scientifique
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=705764
• 关键词: Synchronized; impulsive; stimulated; Raman; scattering

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic reminds us of the importance of novel medical equipment that could be quickly deployed to inactivate emergent viruses. Such equipment must be able to respond rapidly to new viral diseases when they become apparent, and they should also be intrinsically safe to humans. Up to now, our group has been studying the inactivation of viruses using single, energetic infrared and visible femtosecond laser pulses to induce impulsive stimulated Raman scattering (ISRS), thereby exciting vibrations of the virus capsid. If this vibration is large enough, it breaks the bond in the capsid, thus inactivating the virus itself. However, energetic femtosecond lasers are expensive, and the high cost of such equipment and its large footprint would limit their accessibility. In the proposed project, we hypothesize that large-amplitude vibrations in the virus capsid could also be excited by irradiating a train of ultrashort pulses with picosecond pulse-to-pulse timings that are synchronous with the vibrational period of the capsid (synchronized ISRS). The peak power of such lasers could be several orders of magnitude lower than that currently used by our group, thus significantly reducing their cost. Therefore, the experimental focus of this proposal is (i) to acquire data on the inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 using synchronized ISRS, and (ii) to design equipment that inactivates SARS-CoV-2 based on the data. We will collaborate with few-cycles Inc. (Varennes, QC), a company with significant expertise in ultrashort UV lasers, who are actively seeking to find solutions to slow and stop COVID-19. The outcomes of the proposed research would be safe and relatively inexpensive equipment to inactivate SARS-CoV-2. This equipment could be used to disinfect medical equipment (such as N95 masks) without the use of harmful chemicals or damaging radiation (UVC sterilization has been shown to degrade the integrity of masks). It could also be deployed to critical locations (such as in hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities) to contain virus transmission.

正在进行的 COVID-19 大流行提醒我们，可以快速部署以灭活新出现的病毒的新型医疗设备的重要性。此类设备必须能够在新的病毒性疾病出现时对其做出快速反应，并且它们对人类也应该是本质安全的。到目前为止，我们的团队一直在研究使用单一高能红外和可见飞秒激光脉冲诱导脉冲受激拉曼散射（ISRS），从而激发病毒衣壳的振动来灭活病毒。如果这种振动足够大，它就会破坏衣壳中的键，从而使病毒本身失活。然而，高能飞秒激光器价格昂贵，此类设备的高成本及其庞大的占地面积将限制其可及性。 在拟议的项目中，我们假设病毒衣壳中的大幅振动也可以通过照射一系列超短脉冲来激发，这些超短脉冲具有与衣壳振动周期同步的皮秒脉冲间定时（同步ISRS）。这种激光器的峰值功率可能比我们小组目前使用的激光器低几个数量级，从而显着降低其成本。因此，本提案的实验重点是（i）使用同步 ISRS 获取 SARS-CoV-2 灭活数据，以及（ii）根据该数据设计灭活 SARS-CoV-2 的设备。我们将与 Few-cycles Inc.（瓦伦斯，QC）合作，该公司在超短紫外激光器方面拥有丰富的专业知识，正在积极寻找减缓和阻止 COVID-19 的解决方案。 拟议研究的成果将是用于灭活 SARS-CoV-2 的安全且相对便宜的设备。该设备可用于对医疗设备（例如 N95 口罩）进行消毒，而无需使用有害化学物质或破坏性辐射（UVC 灭菌已被证明会降低口罩的完整性）。它还可以部署到关键地点（例如医院、诊所、长期护理机构）以遏制病毒传播。