Executive Summary : | In healthcare and medical treatment, progress has been made in preventing, controlling, and exterminating infectious diseases through improved hygiene and the development of antimicrobials and vaccines. However, microorganism-infected diseases remain a major threat to public health worldwide, particularly in developing countries like India. Nosocomial infections are fatal due to the colonization of bacteria and viruses on common useable surfaces and implants, making them the 6th leading cause of mortality worldwide. Biofouling, the formation of biofilms by infectious microorganisms, is a serious concern in various sectors, including healthcare, food packaging, water treatment, and marine industries. To address the negative impact of biofouling, the design and development of biocompatible, nontoxic, and cost-effective smart antifouling and antimicrobial materials is highly demanding. Various strategies have been developed to resist the biofouling process, but many have drawbacks such as long-term stability, low biocompatibility, and synthetic complexities. The proposed strategy focuses on designing smart self-assembled peptides-based biocompatible, cost-effective, and long-term stable coatings on desired surfaces with promising antibacterial and antiviral activity. Two of the proposed peptides, P1 and P2, have been synthesized, forming stable supramolecular coatings on selected inorganic surfaces, showing promising antibacterial activity against E. coli, P. aeruginosa, and antiviral activity against DNA-based virus T4 bacteriophage. |