RAPID: Personal SARS-CoV-2 Exposure Assessment using a PDMS Wristband

非技术摘要COVID-19患者可以通过咳嗽时排出的飞沫传播疾病。还有一种可能性是，新型冠状病毒SARS-CoV-2的感染可以通过更小的液滴传播，称为气溶胶，通过简单的说话或呼吸释放。虽然较大的液滴会迅速落到地面，但这些较小的气溶胶可以在空气中停留更长时间，并且传播距离远远超过6英尺。这尤其令人担忧，因为没有或轻微症状的感染者可能在不知不觉中助长了COVID-19的传播。空气中的SARS-CoV-2气溶胶对医护人员和在公众附近工作的人（如杂货店店员或运输工人）具有重要意义。测试一个人感染风险的一种方法是确定他们周围空气中的病毒量。 该项目将开发一种由软硅橡胶制成的低成本腕带，可用于快速检测一个人暴露于空气中的SARS-CoV-2气溶胶。这款腕带的收集效率将在我们的实验室中确定，在现实环境中检测空气传播病毒的能力将在医院COVID-19病房的医护人员中进行测试。腕带的简单设计可能会影响COVID-19感染的评估方式。这项研究是至关重要的，因为美国的病例达到高峰，我们为可能的第二波感染做好准备，因为庇护所的订单有所缓解。该项目的成果将与医院网络和更广泛的公共卫生组织分享。在感冒和流感季节，还将向小学生发放腕带，以测试SARS-CoV-2和其他空气传播的病毒，作为呼吸道病毒传播学习模块的一部分。技术摘要这一快速建议涉及到迫切需要监测空气传播的SARS-CoV-2气溶胶水平，作为评估个人感染风险和识别暴露热点的关键策略。PI的愿景是开发一种可穿戴的，低成本的，高度可部署的采样设备，称为新鲜空气腕带。所设想的装置将在佩戴时被动地将空气传播的成分集中到聚合物膜吸附剂棒上。关键成分是这种膜的组成，聚二甲基硅氧烷（PDMS）基材料，选择它是因为它能有效吸附非极性化合物，可能包括脂质包膜病毒，如SARS-CoV-2。该项目的一个重要重点是确定适用于被动采样器的基于PDMS的材料的物理特性和具体配置，这对于简单和快速评估空气中载有SARS-CoV-2的气溶胶的暴露是有用的。NSF RAPID项目的目标是开发一种可穿戴的低成本环境采样设备，用于检测个人SARS-CoV-2暴露，通过确定PDMS的吸附特性，告知个人其感染COVID-19的潜在风险。这项工作的紧迫性源于需要限制对SARS-CoV-2的接触，以减少新病例的发生率，特别是在卫生保健和其他高风险工作者中。具体的研究目标包括：（1）确定基于PDMS的采样器上病毒收集的大小分辨效率，以及（2）证明新鲜空气采样器评估医疗保健提供者暴露于空气传播的SARS-CoV-2的实用性。该研究项目的主要成果包括一个廉价的暴露评估工具和一个快速便携式测试协议，个人或团体可以用来保护他们的健康。项目结果将通过与耶鲁纽黑文医院的利益相关者分享暴露数据和采样器设计，并更广泛地传播到其他医院网络。为了提高参与度，PI计划在传统的感冒和流感季节将腕带引入纽黑文公立学校的五年级班级，分析鼻病毒暴露，并开发和全国分发关于呼吸道病毒传播的学习模块，包括SARS-CoV-2。这项快速反应研究（RAPID）资助的研究将开发一种可穿戴的低成本环境采样设备，用于检测个人SARS-CoV。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过使用基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACTPeople with COVID-19 can spread the disease through droplets expelled when coughing. There is also a possibility that infection of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 can be spread through smaller droplets, called aerosols, released by simply speaking or breathing. While larger droplets quickly fall to the ground, these smaller sized aerosols can stay in the air for longer and travel distances far greater than six feet. This is especially concerning because infected people with no or mild symptoms could unknowingly be contributing to the spread of COVID-19. Airborne SARS-CoV-2 aerosols have important implications for healthcare workers and people that work in proximity to the public, such as grocery clerks or transit workers. One way to test a person’s risk for infection is to determine the amount of virus in the air around them. This project will develop a low-cost wristband made from a soft silicone rubber that can be used to rapidly detect a person’s exposure to airborne SARS-CoV-2 aerosols. This wristband’s collection efficiency will be determined in our lab, and the ability to detect airborne viruses in a real-world setting will be tested with healthcare workers in a hospital COVID-19 patient ward. The simple design of the wristband could shape how COVID-19 infection is assessed. This research is critical, as cases in the US peak and we prepare for a possible second wave of infections as shelter in place orders are eased. Results from this project will be shared with hospital networks and more broadly with public health organizations. Wristbands will also be given to elementary school children during cold and flu season to test for SARS-CoV-2 and other airborne viruses as part of a learning module on the spread of respiratory viruses.TECHNICAL ABSTRACTThis RAPID proposal concerns the urgent need for monitoring levels of airborne SARS-CoV-2-laden aerosol as a critical strategy for assessing an individual’s risk of infection and identifying hotspots of exposure. The PI's vision is to develop a wearable, low-cost, highly deployable sampling device called the Fresh Air wristband. The envisioned device would passively concentrate airborne constituents onto a polymeric membrane sorbent bar while being worn. The critical component is the composition of this membrane, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based material, which was chosen given its efficient sorption of non-polar compounds that potentially include lipid enveloped viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2. An important focus of this project is identification of the physical properties and specific configuration of PDMS-based materials appropriate for a passive sampler, useful for simple and rapid exposure assessment of airborne SARS-CoV-2-laden aerosols. The goal of this NSF RAPID project is to develop a wearable low-cost environmental sampling device for detecting personal SARS-CoV-2 exposure to inform individuals of their potential risk of COVID-19 infection by determining the sorption characteristics of PDMS. The urgent nature of this work stems from the need to limit exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in order to decrease the incidence of new cases, especially in health care and other high-risk workers. Specific research objectives include the following: (1) Determine the size-resolved efficiency of viral collection on the PDMS-based sampler, and (2) Demonstrate utility of the Fresh Air sampler to assess health care providers’ exposure to airborne SARS-CoV-2. The major outcomes of this research project include an inexpensive exposure assessment tool and a rapid portable test protocol that individuals or groups can use to protect their health. Project results will be disseminated by sharing exposure data and sampler design with stakeholders at the Yale New Haven Hospital and more broadly to other hospital networks. To increase participation, the PI plans to introduce wristbands into a 5th grade New Haven Public School class during the traditional cold and flu season, analyze for Rhinovirus exposure, and develop and nationally distribute a learning module on the transmission of respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. This Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant supports research that will develop a wearable low-cost environmental sampling device for detecting personal SARS-CoV-2 exposure with funding from the CARES Act managed by the Condensed Matter Physics Program in the Division of Materials Research of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate.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.