# Rechargeable Antimicrobial Textiles to Reduce Occupational Risk of Healthcare Personnel

> **NIH ALLCDC R21** · UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL · 2020 · $193,740

## Abstract

Project Description/Abstract
This project addresses the healthcare & social assistance (HCSA) sector and the immune, infectious and
dermal disease prevention cross-sector, and addresses the strategic goal to reduce occupational immune,
infectious, and dermal disease and intermediate goal to conduct research to reduce worker illness and injury,
and to advance worker well-being. Healthcare personnel (HCP) have a high occupational burden of exposure
to infectious agents. Service textiles play an important role in the acquisition and transmission of pathogenic
microorganisms. Therefore, reduction of pathogens on textile surfaces is an integral component of infection
prevention to reduce the burden of exposure and protect HCP. Antimicrobial textiles have the potential to
reduce exposure, but current products use quaternary ammonium salts, copper or silver coatings, and their
efficacy decreases rapidly because wash/wear can remove the coating. Further, these compounds are known
to induce microbial resistance, their antimicrobial functions can be significantly reduced by soils and
blood/body fluid, and the actual antimicrobial potency after each wash/use cannot be monitored.
 We will use N-halamine-based monitorable and rechargeable antimicrobial technology to reduce microbial
burden on service textiles. N-halamines are widely used water and food disinfectants with antimicrobial efficacy
similar to that of hypochlorite bleach, but they are much more stable and safer to use, with no documented
resistant species. We will covalently bind N-halamines onto textiles, and the N-halamines will provide potent
antimicrobial functions by killing the microorganisms. Based on our preliminary results, the antimicrobial activity
will not be affected by soils/blood, and it can last for months to years with good cytocompatibility. Further,
users can periodically check the level of N-halamines on the textiles with potassium iodine (KI) strips, and if the
tests show that the covalently bonded chlorine contents are below the recommended level (to be determined in
this study), the lost chlorines can be recharged by a bleach rinse during laundering. The recharging can be
repeated as needed through the entire service life of the textiles. The specific aims of this project are to: (1)
covalently bind N-halamines onto healthcare service textile materials and characterize the physical/mechanical
properties of the new materials; (2) evaluate in vitro the antimicrobial performance under simulated in-use
conditions, the cytotoxicity of the new materials and the risk of microbial resistance to the materials. The
outputs of this project will be publications, reports, conference proceedings, and presentations/posters of the
research results, and N-halamine-based antimicrobial fabrics as tools to reduce occupational exposure. The
intermediate outcomes will include citations in the literature, inventions of new antimicrobial fabrics, and
possible adoption of the new materials in practic...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9990631
- **Project number:** 5R21OH011406-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL
- **Principal Investigator:** Nancy Goodyear
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $193,740
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-01 → 2021-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9990631

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9990631, Rechargeable Antimicrobial Textiles to Reduce Occupational Risk of Healthcare Personnel (5R21OH011406-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9990631. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*