EU FP7 SONO Project

A pilot line of antibacterial and antifungal medical textiles based on a sonochemical process

The Sonochemistry Centre has developed a pilot line for the production of medical antibacterial textiles. Based on the scale-up of a sonochemical process developed in Israel by BIU laboratories the line will deposit antimicrobial nanoparticles on medical textiles like sheets, clothing and bandages that will help to halt the spread of hospital-acquired infections. The Centre, which focuses on research into the use of ultrasound on chemical processes, is involved in both the optimisation of the production process and the evaluation of the antibacterial properties of the textiles produced.

Hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infections are a major problem in healthcare. The financial impact of these infections counteract medical advances and expensive medical treatments by increasing the length of hospital stay by at least 8 days on average per affected patient. This adds up to more than 10 million patient days in hospitals per year in Europe alone.

The statistics on patient safety in the EU show alarming tendencies with 1 in 10 patients affected by hospital-acquired infections and around 3 million deaths caused by hospital-acquired infections each year. Infection control and hygiene measures have proven to significantly reduce both the number of infections and costs of hospitalisation.

For further information on the project please contact Dr. Eadaoin Joyce on +44 (0)24 76888075.

The SONO project started in October 2009 and is scheduled to run for 4 years. It is a funded through the EU Framework 7 R&D program, and includes 16 European project partners: Bar Ilan University (Israel), Coventry University (UK), Universitat Politacnica de Catalunya, Group of Molecular and Industrial Biotechnology (Spain), National R&D Institute for Textile and Leather (Romania), WESSEX Institute (UK), Davo Star Impex SRL (Romania), VIATECH Ltd. (Russia), Cedrat Technologies S.A (France), Kitozyme (Belgium), Pielaszek Research (Poland), OSM-DAN Ltd. (Israel), Klopman International S.R.L (Italy), Environment Park S.p.A. (Italy), Afcon Software and Electronics Ltd. (Israel), AITEX (Spain), Emergency Medicine Institute "Pirogov" (Bulgaria).