A research team from the Department of Chemistry of the American University in Cairo (AUC) developed a novel long-term dual disinfectant formula dubbed NanoGuard.
The long-lasting disinfectant, now patented in the United States, can be sprayed on common surfaces such as doorknobs, stair rails, and elevator buttons to protect them against microbial contamination and prevent the spread of microbes to individuals.
Saif El-Din Al-Mofty, Obaydah Abd Alkader Alabrahim (MSc ’24), and Jude Majd Lababidi, an AUC nanotechnology master’s student, made up the NanoGuard team under the direction of Professor Hassan Azzazy.
The 2024 Johns Hopkins International Healthcare Design Competition selected the NanoGuard team as a finalist. Nanoscale Advances initially published the results of the NanoGuard research under the title “A novel long-acting antimicrobial nanomicelle spray.”
The team’s disinfectant is unlike any other, keeping surfaces clean in the long term without requiring special application procedures. “We created a new disinfectant that is simple to apply on surfaces and maintains its effectiveness against microbes for a minimum of two weeks,” stated Azzazy.
He added: “Most commercial disinfectants are short-term and require repeated application, while current, existing long-term disinfectants are expensive and require facility evacuation as well as specialists to apply them. We created a new disinfectant that is simple to apply on surfaces and maintains its effectiveness against microbes for a minimum of two weeks.
“Most commercial disinfectants are short-term and require repeated application, while current, existing long-term disinfectants are expensive and require facility evacuation as well as specialists to apply them,” Azzazy explained.
The team developed a prototype of the disinfectant over one year, first selecting the short-term chemical that would kill germs upon contact and later choosing the long-term chemical. Next, they sought a method to encapsulate the two selected chemicals within nanovesicles and tested the shelf life and stability of the formula during storage.
Our synergy was the key to our success. Al-Mofty stated, “Once we found the formulation that was stable, clean, and easy to apply to surfaces, we proceeded to the next phase of making the product user-friendly.”
The researchers obtained a patent from the United States Patent & Trade Office to protect their intellectual property, and they are currently looking to connect with international manufacturers for possible licensing agreements to produce and later market NanoGuard.
