AG Himly makes front page of Environmental Science: Nano

What is the future of antibiotic resistance? Can nano-scale advanced materials offer a safer and more sustainable pathway towards the combat against microorganisms? In an effort to address these questions, an international collaboration between researchers from the Paris-Lodron University of Salzburg (PLUS), the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology in China, and the Federal University of Pernambuco in Brazil has been selected as the cover feature for Royal Society of Chemistry's Environmental Science: Nano Journal.

Inspired by the European Clean Industrial Deal and the European Commission's recommendation for Safe-and-Sustainability-by-Design (SSbD) framework for research and innovation, the publication led by the members of the AG Himly provided mechanistic insights into the antimicrobial action of nano-scale materials and reviewed the main potential candidates in literature. By providing a comprehensive suite of methodologies for the physicochemical characterization of nanomaterials and the investigation of their behaviour towards bacterial, fungal, and viral growth, the study seeks to aid researchers on selecting formulations for future antimicrobial solutions. At the same time, the authors highlight the importance of circularity and SSbD practices for the large-scale implementation of nanomaterials:

"[…] avoiding the use of critical raw materials and fossil derived solvents as well as making use of closed circle manufacturing processes, in which the gases produced during the manufacturing process are used in the very same process as precursors. The implementation of circular economy principles, allied to Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) methodologies, as well as the integration of advanced nano-scaled materials for antimicrobial applications, establishes a comprehensive framework focused on environmental health and resource efficiency."

The funding by several EU projects under Horizon Europe, including PINK (HORIZON grant 101137809), PLANETS (HORIZON grant 101177608), CompSafeNano (H2020 grant 101008099), NeuroNanoTech (HORIZON grant 101169352), as well as the international collaboration projects SmartCERIALS (FFG grant 890610), SURPHACE (M-Era.Net grant 12319), and the Collaborative Doctoral Partnership with EC-Joint Research Centre, enables the group's active engagement in many international activities, such as chairing the Working Group for Education of the Network for Safe and Sustainable Chemicals and Materials (NSC) or annually co-organizing the Venice Training School (this year with the 13th edition). Being featured on the cover of Environmental Science: Nano shines a spotlight on the participative role of the PLUS scientists collaborating with industry and regulators resulting in a policy-relevant context of their research and innovation output towards a more sustainable future.

More information can be found at https://www.plus.ac.at/himly. Stay tuned: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-himly.

The full open-access article "Nano-scaled advanced materials for antimicrobial applications - mechanistic insight, functional performance measures, and potential towards sustainability and circularity" is available here.