A University of Georgia researcher has found a way to make fabric germ-free, forever -- even stinky tennis shoes.

Chemist Jason Locklin's devised a way to coat fabric with an ultra-thin layer of chemicals that kill bacteria, a technology that could not only make gym shoes less stinky, but also might help in hospitals and even fish farming.

Tiny spikes protruding from the fabric's chemical coating pierce germ cells and kill them.

Scientists have known how to kill bacteria that way for years, but Locklin has figured out how to use ultraviolet light to attach that spiky, thin chemical layer cheaply and easily. The treatment works with both natural fibers like cotton and textiles' woven plastic fibers that normally would shed the chemical coat like water off a duck's back.

"Our biggest contribution is the chemistry to allow us to attach it to inert plastics," Locklin said. "This is actually a technology that's incredibly simple."

In tests the researchers conducted, the treatment not only killed nasty bacteria such as E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus, but molds, fungi, viruses and other little creatures that can cause disease, eat away at fabric or make cloth stinky.

And unlike other chemical treatments, this won't wash out, even after repeated cleaning in hot, soapy water, said Ian Hardin, a UGA textile scientist who worked with Locklin on the research project along with graduate student Vikram Dhende and others.

Officials in the UGA Office of the Vice President for Research have high hopes that Locklin's discovery can be licensed out to manufacturers. They talk about using it for socks, underwear and surgical masks, among many other potential applications.

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