POWRE: Bioaerosols: Gaining Expertise Through Education and Research

拟议的研究重点是需要更好地了解生物气溶胶对公众健康的影响。生物气溶胶是空气中有生命的颗粒，或来自曾经有生命的生物体。这个问题的复杂性需要一个多学科的方法，结合环境工程和微生物学的专业知识。该项目由两个协同部分组成。在第一部分中，PI将通过环境微生物学课程、公共卫生微生物学实验室认证计划和支持实验室活动的组合获得微生物学专业知识。在第二个组成部分，PI将在现有专家的支持下进行研究。本研究的目的是收集和分析来自家庭的空气和室内尘埃样本的内毒素和革兰氏阴性细菌。这项研究是基于这样一个假设，即与室内灰尘样本相比，空气样本与人类接触空气中的过敏原有更好的相关性。房屋灰尘样本更容易收集，并已广泛用于以前的哮喘评估。结果将支持儿童哮喘发病率上升原因的流行病学研究。资助将用于进行探索性工作，以确定生物气雾剂研究的可行性。PI拥有强大的工程背景，并将通过该奖项获得生物气溶胶方面的新技能和专业知识，使她能够在职业生涯的相对早期阶段成为一个新的研究领域的独立研究人员。＊＊＊

0074653 Miller The proposed research centers on the need to better understand the impact of bioaerosols on public health. Bioaerosols are airborne particles that are living or originated from once-living organisms. The complexity of this problem warrants a multidisciplinary approach, combining expertise in environmental engineering and microbiology. The project consists of two synergistic components. In the first component, the PI will gain expertise in microbiology through a combination of course work in environmental microbiology, a lab-based certification program in Public Health Microbiology, and supporting laboratory activities. In the second component, the PI will conduct research with the support of established experts. The objective of the research is to collect and assay air and settled house dust samples for endotoxin and gram-negative bacteria from homes. This research is based on the hypothesis that air samples are a better correlate with human exposure to airborne allergens compared to house dust samples. House dust samples are easier to collect and have been used extensively in previous asthma evaluations. Results will support epidemiological studies of the causes of increasing asthma rates in children. Support will be used to conduct exploratory work to determine the feasibility of a research thrust in bioaerosols. The PI has a strong background in engineering and will gain access to new skills and expertise in bioaerosols through this award, allowing her to become an independent researcher in a new area of inquiry at a relatively early stage in her career. ***