Today's challenges

The challenges that NRCS addresses stem from antibiotic abuse, antibiotic resistance, overuse of synthetic disinfectants, overuse of synthetic pesticides, and biofilm.
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These issues are realized through acute challenges occurring in various agricultural sectors of food production and processing such as pollination, on farm production and handling, secondary processing along with system-wide sanitization. Beyond these known applications, the NRCS team is discovering more ways to apply our technology to combat this broad scope of health and environmental challenges.

Antibiotics Abuse

"In 2019, 1.27 million people died as a direct result of antimicrobial resistance."- World Health Organization
The abuse of antibiotics is a public health concern. Over the years there has been overuse and misuse of antibiotics in disease treatments of animals and humans. These behaviors have accelerated the generation of superbugs (antibiotic resistant bacteria).

ANTIBIOTICS RESISTANCE (SUPERBUGS)

“Anti-microbial resistant infection is tracking to kill 30,000 Americans per year by 2050. The financial cost to the 33 developed countries included in the study could be as high as $3.5 billion a year.” - OECD, published in CNBC news
‍Various bacteria, resistant to antibiotics, have emerged and are called superbugs. These superbugs are difficult to kill and are harmful to both humans and animals. The development of novel antibiotics to mitigate these superbugs has not kept pace and the industry is using its ‘last line of defense’ to battle these superbugs.

BIOFILM

Biofilm is a layer of bacteria that can adhere to any surface. A typical example is the bacteria that gets left behind after non-thorough cleaning, and creates its own protective layer. This protective layer is made up of complex extracellular polymeric substances, a matrix which is generally composed of eDNA, proteins, and polysaccharides, and shows high resistance to antibiotics. Biofilm is one of the major causes of infection persistence.

A good explanation of the dangers of biofilm can be seen on the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) website, as quoted here: "It is now understood that about 40–80% of bacterial cells on Earth can form biofilms. The formation of biofilms [is] detrimental in several situations. For example, in food industries, pathogenic bacteria are able to form biofilms inside of processing facilities, leading to food spoilage, and endangering consumer’s health. In hospital settings, biofilms have also been shown to persist on medical device surfaces and on patient’s tissues causing persistent infections."
- "Beyond Risk: Bacterial Biofilms and Their Regulating Approaches", NCBI site

USE OF SYNTHETIC DISINFECTANTS

Synthetic disinfectants are widely used to inactivate or destroy microorganisms. Recent evidence from peer-reviewed studies and articles have raised concerns about synthetic disinfectants (QUATs – quaternary ammonium compounds) and their potential long-term side effects on reproductive and developmental systems (as evidenced in animal research).

REPLACING SYNTHETIC ANTIMICROBIAL PESTICIDE USAGE

Synthetic antimicrobial pesticides are known to cause a large number of negative health and environmental effects. Their side effects can be an important environmental health risk factor. The urgent need for a more sustainable and ecological approach has produced many innovative ideas, among them agriculture reforms and food production implementing sustainable practices evolving to food sovereignty.