NanoCOVID19

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  Liver cancer tissue under scanning electron microscope with particles of stainless steel (Photoshop colours)

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  Red cells with nanoparticles (white dots) of Aluminum attached to the surface

Inspiration:

In order to understand the letahl mechnaism of the virus it is necessary to study the dead infected bodies

What it does: NanoCovid19 aims to identify potential disease cofactors, such as heavy metals or pollutants, at the nanoscale level. The study of the internal organs (the lungs, the liver, the kidney), the clots and the brain by means of the Scanning Electron Microscopy can verify if foreign,nanosized bodies are present and if they contributed to the lethal mechanism.

How we built it: We would like to create a multidisciplinary network made of physicians, physicists, bioinformaticians, web developers, and experts in dissemination. We obtain autopsic samples from infected bodies. They will be analyzed according to the optical microscopy, the Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with an Energy Dispersion Spectroscopy, the Trasmission Electron Microscopy, confocal and fluorescence microscopy and epigenetic investigations

Challenges we ran into:
We need autoptic tissue samples from Covid19 dead patients.where we can identify environmental particulate matter especially nanosized. A possible co-factor of the lethality of Covid19 was also suggested recently by Harvard researchers. Our investigations can analyze clots and verify if the clotting was triggered by nanoparticles linked to virus. We want verify if there is a nano-bio-interaction between the virus and inorganic nanoparticles.

Accomplishments that :
We identified the presence of contaminants nanomolecules in different physiopathological conditions associated with microinflammation thanks to an interdisciplinary team (Medical doctors , biologists, bioengineers, physicists) What we learned. The mechanism of lethality of Covid19. That can be important for therapies and how to face the new epidemic. We learned that microenvironmental components may be crucial during disease development or progression.

What's next for NanoCovid19.
The project is aimed to introduce a new approach of the epidemic correlated with the environment and its pollution. It will provide information to stakeholders, politixpolicymakers and scientists involved in emergency and urgent therapies and later in new drugs and in vaccine development.

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