One of the best things about a human life is how you can always make it better it in one way or the other. This, in particular, allows us the luxury to experience a whole lot as we move forward, but if we assess things in hindsight for a second, we’ll quickly realize how we are still yet to come across as significant of an experience as to what technology brought to the table. Now, while the stated reality was largely orchestrated by the creation’s unprecedented skill-set, it also, notably enough, revolved around the manner in which those skills were used to impact an entire spectrum, including the highly-critical area of healthcare. Talk about technology’s foray into healthcare, it came at a time when the sector was struggling to hold up against an outdated structure. By bringing unique and cutting-edge ideas, however, the creation was immensely successful in shaking up that landscape. In fact, even after revitalizing each and every aspect of medical discipline, technology continued to conceive better avenues for all our healthcare efforts. This dynamic should only become stronger on the back of one recent development.
The researching team at the University of Kentucky has reportedly developed a novel membrane, which is designed to enzymatically degrade the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, therefore nullifying the effects of the relevant virus. Going by the available details, the membrane is supposed to be a part of your face mask, but how does it make any difference? Well, it predicates the entire process on subtilisin enzyme, a component that has displayed a tendency to degrade spike protein in just thirty seconds. If we put our stock in some claims made by the creators of this membrane, the device can easily filter out 95% of airborne particles. With such efficiency, there is a belief that it can also go on to have a wider application, and by that, we are referring to cutting back on the level of viral particles in indoor environments.
“This new material can filter out the virus like the N95 mask does, but also includes antiviral enzymes that completely deactivate it. This innovation is another layer of protection against SARS-CoV-2 that can help prevent the virus from spreading,” said Dibakar Bhattacharyya, one of the researchers involved in the study. “It’s promising to the development new products that can protect against SARS-CoV-2 and a number of other human pathogenic viruses.”
The researchers have already conducted their preliminary tests on the device, and as per reports, they were very much able to validate its efficiency. Apart from that, they even authenticated the 30-second claim in regards to the timeframe this entire function might exhaust.
