EAGER: A Molecular Tool to Measure Mold Exposure and Remediation Effectiveness in Water-damaged Buildings

2017年，飓风哈维、玛丽亚和伊尔玛造成的损失和洪灾造成2650亿美元的损失。更广泛地说，近一半的美国家庭将受到洪水、湿度和漏水管道的水损害。潮湿的石膏板、木头和混凝土会促进房屋中霉菌的生长，这会导致婴儿、儿童和成年人患哮喘、过敏和其他呼吸道疾病。即使被洪水淹没的房屋被干燥和清洁，墙壁、踢脚板和地板上的隐藏空间通常也会保留水分和霉菌。由于清洁效果不明朗，水浸房屋的物业价值在水浸后的一年内下跌超过50%。这项研究的目的是构建一种实用且负担得起的工具，以衡量建筑修复是否消除了因洪水事件而生长的霉菌。该工具使用房屋灰尘的比较DNA序列分析来将房屋分类为干燥或发霉。该项目将生产一种工具或测试套件，房主、行业和政府救援机构可以使用它来确定房屋是否需要修复，或者被洪水淹没的房屋是否已恢复到健康状态。私营补救公司以及公共灾害和救济机构使用这一项目产生的工具，在保护人类健康、在洪灾后保持财产价值以及改善我国对洪灾事件的反应方面具有巨大的潜力。在洪水或室外降雨期间，当水渗入房屋时，建筑材料水活度的增加使室内表面上的真菌得以生长。建筑物内可见的真菌生长和湿度一直与婴儿、儿童和成人的呼吸和过敏性健康影响有关。即使经过修复，房屋中的隐蔽空间往往也会保持湿气和真菌的生长，给居民带来长期的健康风险，并造成财产价值的损失。这些影响对我国人口中经济脆弱的那部分人来说最为严重。目前还没有可用的、准确的方法或测试来确定房屋是否暴露在水损坏材料的真菌中，或者水损坏的房屋在修复后是否可以被认为没有霉菌。缺乏统一的衡量标准造成的不确定性使房主和救济机构依赖于主观的和可能不必要的清洁、修复和补救建议；以及潜在的财产贬值和个人财富损失。这项拟议的研究的目标是为两个目的建立一个实用的、负担得起的和量化的工具。首先评估是否在家庭中接触过因水损害而导致的真菌。第二，确定建筑物修复是否已经消除了在水入侵事件中产生的真菌的暴露。该工具基于比较DNA序列分析，以确定由于建筑潮湿而导致的家庭真菌群落的变化。为了创造这个潜在的变革性工具，该研究项目将专注于发展使用计算生物学方法的家庭采样科学，该方法可以识别真菌生态学中的细微差异。这项研究的成功完成可以改变我们国家对洪灾的反应和金融风险。2017年，飓风哈维、玛丽亚和伊尔玛造成的结构破坏和洪水造成2650亿美元的损失。通过提供量化措施来评估补救的必要性及其成功与否，这项研究可以保护人类健康，保持洪灾后的财产价值，并改善我们国家对洪灾事件的反应。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In 2017, damage and flooding from Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Irma cost $265 billion. More broadly, almost one half of U.S. homes will incur water damage from floods, humidity, and leaky plumbing. Wet sheetrock, wood, and concrete promote the growth of mold in homes, which causes asthma, allergies, and other respiratory disease in infants, children, and adults. Even when flooded homes are dried and cleaned, hidden spaces in walls, baseboards, and floors often retain water and mold. Due to uncertainties in cleaning effectiveness, the property value of a flooded home decreases by more than 50% in the year after a flood. The purpose of this research is to build a practical and affordable tool to measure if building remediation has removed mold that grew due to a flooding event. The tool uses comparative DNA sequence analyses of house dust to classify a home as dry or moldy. This project will produce a tool or test kit that homeowners, industry, and government relief agencies could use to determine whether a home needs remediation, or if a flooded home has been restored to a healthy state. Use of the tool resulting from this project by private remediation companies and public disaster and relief agencies has great potential to protect human health, maintain property values after floods, and improve our Nation's response to flooding events. When water penetrates into homes during flooding or outdoor precipitation events, the increase in building material water activity enables the growth of fungi on indoor surfaces. Visible fungal growth and moisture inside buildings is consistently associated with respiratory and allergic health effects in infants, children, and adults. Even when remediated, hidden spaces in homes often retain moisture and fungal growth, producing chronic health risks among residents and loss in property values. These impacts are most severe for the economically vulnerable fraction of our population. Currently there is no available, accurate approach or test to determine if home exposure to fungi from water damaged material occurs, or if a water damaged home can be considered mold-free after remediation. Uncertainty caused by the lack of uniform metrics leaves home owners and relief agencies reliant upon subjective and possibly unneeded recommendations for cleaning, restoration, and remediation; and potential property devaluations and loss of personal wealth. The goal of this proposed research is to build a practical, affordable, and quantitative tool for two purposes. First to assess whether exposure to fungi from water damage has occurred in a home. Second, to determine if building remediation has removed exposure to fungi that originated during a water intrusion event. The tool is based on comparative DNA sequence analysis to identify changes in home fungal communities due to building dampness. To create this potentially transformative tool, the research project will focus on developing the science of home sampling using computational biology approaches that can identify subtle differences in fungal ecology. Successful completion of this research can transform our Nation's response and financial exposure to flooding. In 2017, structural damage and flooding from Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Irma cost $265 billion. By providing quantitative measures from which to assess both the need for remediation and its success, this research can protect human health, maintain property values after floods, and improve our Nation's response to flooding events.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.