McMaster University researchers in Hamilton say a promising pathogen-repellent wrap they’ve created could protect against contamination on high-touch surfaces such as door handles and railings.The so-called ‘RepelWrap’ is a simple plastic wrap with a built-in microscopic structure that helps to repel things like bacteria and viruses.Dr.
Leyla Soleymani, associate professor Tohid Didar and others with the McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering published their first proof-of-concept research in December 2019, on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic.The inventors believe their licensed technology has huge potential amid a worldwide viral crisis that led to more than 450 million COVID-19 cases between 2020 and 2022.“So … if you touch with a contaminated hand a regular surface, contamination will get transferred to it,” Soleymani told 900 CHML’s Good Morning Hamilton.“But if you touch the repel wrap, it doesn’t get contaminated.