Exploring Sustainable Antibacterial Solutions for Personal Hygiene Products

Antimicrobial agents including peptides and derivatives, molecular mechanisms, real-time visualization methods of bacterial growth inhibition, analytical measurements of surface interactions with bacteria, surface immobilization approach that is practical for industrial application, stability, and migration studies. This project focuses on studying the mechanisms of antibacterial fibre and nonwoven materials for application in personal hygiene products. Antimicrobial agents (AMA) can be peptides such as polylysine, nisin and defensin or derivatives with mode of actions varying from microbial cell membrane disruption to metabolic disruption. Antimicrobials of plant origin like Green Tea and Vitamin E are also of great interest for driving the synergy. As AMA needs to be robustly attached on fibre substrates to deliver durable performance and minimize migration risk, surface modification or grafting strategies enabling better immobilisation will be developed and evaluated for industrial scale-up feasibility. The scientific insights are expected to enable new material/technology developments that are ownable to the company. The project also aims to create and develop novel capabilities for visualizing/measuring the AMA-bacteria interactions in real time. Real application and aging conditions need to be factored in for supporting the projects in Baby/Fem Care business.