Characterization and Control of Bioaerosol Toxicology for Indoor Environments

在大气中气相污染物和悬浮颗粒物受到广泛关注的同时，被称为生物气溶胶毒理学的气溶胶的生物含量和生物活性却在很大程度上被工程界所忽视。当然，这与环境工程关于水质的观点是不一致的。作为回应，这项工作将适应定量分子生物学方法在大气环境中的应用，其明确目的是评估室内生物气溶胶的组成和毒理学特性。所开发的方法将适用于室内气溶胶，因为大多数人类接触发生在室内。越来越多的证据表明，空气中的生物源性和无机颗粒物都可以作为有效的佐剂，使肺部和粘膜对室内和室外的空气污染变得敏感。这种致敏表现为一系列严重的健康影响，其中一些是众所周知的传染病，但其中许多属于一般的呼吸系统疾病，包括但不限于过敏原、超敏反应和毒素生成反应，这些反应通常表现为哮喘。随着上一代人呼吸系统疾病的快速增长，它们与室内空气质量差以及商业和住宅建筑存量从洪水、风暴、海啸和地震等大规模灾害中回收的明显联系在一起。关于受水/结构破坏影响的建筑物内生物气溶胶暴露的信息相对较少。尚未从流行病学角度确定建筑物重新占用的室内空气质量管理标准，适合受灾害影响的建筑存量。针对这种缺乏，本研究的主要科学目标是全面表征生物气溶胶负荷：生物化学，生态和毒理学。本研究的一个相关工程目标是评估应用新一代电增强空气过滤器技术的现场效果，以减少室内生物气溶胶暴露。无论是在实验室用替代生物气溶胶，还是在现场。校园内以及迪拉德大学和科罗拉多大学附近的高事故、被水损坏的建筑物将作为该示范研究的实地地点。迪拉德是新奥尔良一所历史悠久的黑人大学，在卡特里娜飓风中遭受了巨大的破坏。补充迪拉德吗?是否有相关的NSF支持HRD 1118254，来自科罗拉多州的指导？迪拉德大学的研究生生物气溶胶研究小组将正式扩展到迪拉德大学。他们将接受现代生物气溶胶评估技术的培训，采用类似reu的形式和大学交流。先前已确定室内生物气溶胶致病微生物水平升高或其他危险的建筑物将使用静电增强过滤器进行改造。Carrier公司和Hunter Fan公司已同意为本干预研究提供实物独立过滤设备。这项新兴技术的性能将根据其在可持续环境下的室内空气质量修复能力进行评估。本研究的内在科学价值在于为室内气溶胶建立了一套强大的基本空气生物学表征工具，包括生化和毒理学指标，这些指标以前从未在大气环境中共同使用过。工程价值在于评估新兴的过滤技术，以经济有效地操纵室内生物气溶胶水平，为广泛的公共卫生利益。更广泛的影响源于发现驱动的伙伴关系之间的R1？拥有丰富的生物气溶胶和室内空气质量工程专业知识的大学，以及从卡特里娜飓风中恢复过来的HBCU。这个项目将提升迪拉德？由于卡特里娜飓风的影响，杜兰大学已经关闭了环境工程项目，并将现代工业卫生培训能力带给该地区代表性不足的学生。这项工作将为室内空气质量指数的监管套件奠定基础，以在未来包括更强大的生物气溶胶分析，并将室内大气环境的生物学特征与建筑回收和再占用实践联系起来。

PI: Mark Hernandez Proposal Number: 1134594While gas phase pollutants and suspended particulate matter in atmosphere have received much attention, the biological content as well as the biological activity of aerosols respectively termed bioaerosol toxicology has been largely ignored by the engineering community. Certainly this is not consistent with the environmental engineering perspective concerning water quality. In response, this work will adapt quantitative molecular biology methods for use in the atmospheric environment, with the express purpose of assessing the composition and toxicological properties of indoor bioaerosols. The methods developed will be applied to indoor aerosols because most human exposure occurs indoors.There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that both biogenic and inorganic pools of airborne particulate matter can act as potent adjuvants that sensitize lungs and mucosal membranes to air pollution both indoors and out. This sensitization manifests through a broad spectrum of serious health effects, some of which are well known infectious diseases, but many of which fall into generic respiratory diseases including, but not limited to, allergenic, hypersensitivity and toxigenic responses which often present as asthma. With the rapid growth of respiratory illnesses over the last generation come their marked association with poor indoor air quality IAQ and the reclamation of commercial and residential building stocks from large-scale disasters: floods, storms, tsunamis and earthquakes. There is relatively little information regarding bioaerosol exposures within buildings impacted by water/structural damage. IAQ regulatory criteria for building reoccupation have not been defined from an epidemiological perspective appropriate for building stocks impacted by disasters.In response to this paucity, a primary scientific goal of this study is to comprehensively characterize bioaerosol loads: biochemically, ecologically and toxicologically. An associated engineering goal of this study is to assess the in-situ efficacy of applying a new generation of electrically enhanced air filter technology for the express purpose of reducing indoor bioaerosol exposure ? both in the lab with surrogate bioaerosols, and in the field. High incident, water damaged buildings on the campuses and in the proximity of Dillard University and the University of Colorado, will serve as field sites for this demonstration study. Dillard is a historically black college in New Orleans, which sustained tremendous damage from Hurricane Katrina. Supplementing Dillard?s related NSF support HRD 1118254, mentoring from Colorado?s graduate bioaerosol research group will be formally extended toDillard?s students, who will be trained in modern bioaerosol assessment techniques using REU-like formats and university exchanges. Buildings that have been previously identified with elevated or otherwise dangerous indoor bioaerosol levels pathogenic microbes, will be retrofit with electrostatically enhanced filters. Carrier Corporation and the Hunter Fan Company have agreed to provide in-kind stand alone filtration equipment for the purposes of this intervention study. The performance of this emerging technology will be as evaluated for its IAQ remediation ability in a sustainable context.The intrinsic scientific merits of this study lie in establishing a robust suite of fundamental aerobiological characterization tools for indoor aerosols, to include biochemical and toxicological indices which have never collectively been used in the atmospheric environment before. Engineering merit lies in the assessment of emerging filter technology to cost-effectively manipulate indoor bioaerosol levels for broad public health benefit. Broader reaching impacts stem from a discovery-driven partnership between an ?R1? University with extensive bioaerosol and IAQ engineering expertise, and an HBCU recovering from Katrina. This project will enhance Dillard?s educational infrastructure and bring modern industrial hygiene training capabilities to underrepresented students in a region that because of Katrina, no longer has Environmental Engineering programs Tulane has closed its program. This work will demonstrate a fundamental basis for the regulatory suite of IAQ indices to include more robust bioaerosol analyses in the future, and link biological characterization of indoor atmospheric environments to building reclamation and reoccupation practices.