# Vesicle-Cloaked Virus Clusters as Emerging Pathogens: Will They Challenge Current Disinfection Paradigm?

> **NIH NIH R21** · GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $264,882

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Rotavirus and norovirus are well-known to lead to serious gastroenteritis in humans and great public health
concerns. Both viruses are environmentally persistent, and they can be transmitted via direct contact with an
infected person or contaminated surfaces, as well as polluted water and food. Disinfection can inactivate these
persistent viruses and prevent infectious disease outbreaks. Almost all previous studies consider rotavirus and
norovirus as individual, free viral particles in biomedical research, until a recent finding demonstrated that
rotavirus and norovirus could transmit in vitro as viral clusters inside extracellular vesicles that have a lipid-rich
membrane structure, i.e., vesicle-cloaked virus clusters (viral vesicles for simplicity). Vesicle-cloaked rotavirus
and norovirus clusters are important emerging pathogens, because they are environmentally stable, widely
present, and more infectious than their free viral particle counterpart; however, their inactivation by current
disinfection strategies is unknown. Moreover, disinfection mechanisms are largely unclear, which prevents us
from rational design of effective, robust, broad-spectrum, and low-cost disinfection processes. This project seeks
to evaluate the performance of conventional disinfection strategies for inactivating vesicle-cloaked rotavirus and
norovirus clusters, elucidate the mechanisms of viral vesicle inactivation, and develop new disinfection
processes for effective viral vesicle inactivation. Our central hypothesis is that the vesicle-cloaked virus clusters
are more persistent in disinfection compared to their counterpart of free viruses, and disinfection that damages
multiple biological components in viral vesicles is more effective. Specific Aim 1 will evaluate the inactivation of
vesicle-cloaked virus clusters by conventional disinfectants, i.e., bleach, ultraviolet light (monochromatic UV 254
nm), a surfactant (didecyldimethylammonium chloride), ethanol, and their combination. The dosage of
disinfectants and their performance in disinfection will be determined to generate a dose-response relationship,
which will be compared with that for free viruses. Specific Aim 2 will elucidate the mechanisms of inactivating
vesicle-cloaked virus clusters by conventional disinfectants to understand the key factor that determines
disinfection performance. The damage of biological components of viral vesicles and the impact on viral vesicles’
lifecycle in the host cells after disinfection will be evaluated. Specific Aim 3 will evaluate emerging disinfectants,
i.e., polychromatic UV irradiation and activated persulfate, for inactivating vesicle-cloaked virus clusters. Both
disinfection performance and mechanisms will be explored. Our study will shed light on the need for optimizing
current disinfection paradigm and developing new disinfection strategies for rotavirus and norovirus, and it has
a broader health impact because research outcomes can be tr...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10494266
- **Project number:** 5R21AI154049-02
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Yun Shen
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $264,882
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-23 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10494266

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10494266, Vesicle-Cloaked Virus Clusters as Emerging Pathogens: Will They Challenge Current Disinfection Paradigm? (5R21AI154049-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10494266. Licensed CC0.

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