From chicken feathers to antimicrobial peptides for smart, self-disinfecting nanocoating

• Various hydrolysis methods are evaluated on poultry waste and the best approaches for optimal antimicrobial activity are selected for larger scale production.• Several extracted AMP mixtures demonstrate antimicrobial activity and are further purified to isolate the most active peptide fractions.• Studies are ongoing to explore the anchoring of bioactive keratin-based peptides on the surface of mesoporous copper-silica nanoparticles.