GRC Fluids and Health 2022: Fluids in Disease Transmission and Contamination

2019冠状病毒病大流行表明，在世界某个地区出现的呼吸道病原体如何迅速在全球传播，使整个经济陷入瘫痪，并使地方和国家医疗保健服务系统濒临崩溃。在使用非医疗干预措施减少COVID-19传播方面取得的初步成功突出表明，需要高效和具有成本效益的技术和解决方案，以减轻和预防呼吸道病原体在建筑环境（包括住宅/商业建筑、学校和医疗保健/娱乐设施）中的传播和传播。然而，对呼吸道病原体在建筑环境和社区中的传播和传播的基本理解仍然难以捉摸。提议的戈登研究会议（GRC）将专门讨论“疾病传播和污染中的液体”这一关键而重要的主题。GRC将汇集一组来自广泛学科和领域的专家和利益相关者，包括流体动力学、环境工程、应用和计算数学、流行病学、微生物学、病毒学和公共卫生。会议将为科学、工程和公共卫生界提供一个独特的论坛，这些社区很少见面或互动，讨论和评估对病原体和疾病传播的流体动力学和多相运输及其公共卫生影响的当前理解水平。这项NSF奖励将使会议组织者能够通过向早期职业研究人员（包括女性、初级教师、博士后研究人员和来自代表性不足群体的学生）提供旅行补助金（包括注册费）来扩大对GRC的参与。COVID-19大流行凸显了在对病原体和疾病传播的流体动力学和多相转运的基本理解方面的关键知识空白。病原体以流体形式传播——空气、水和包括血液和唾液在内的生物流体。此外，流体动力学和多相输运在设计和实施高效、经济的病原体净化技术中起着关键作用。然而，对建筑环境和社区中病原体和疾病传播的流体动力学和多相传输的研究有限。为期5天的“疾病传播和污染中的液体”戈登研究会议（GRC）将于2022年8月14日至18日在Mount Holyoke College （MA）举行。会议将汇集一群处于不同职业阶段的科学家、工程师、临床医生、公共卫生研究人员和感染控制从业人员，并为他们提供一个论坛，讨论流体动力学和病原体和疾病传播的多相运输/物理的科学、工程和医疗保健含义。会议计划和讨论将围绕九个会议进行，包括题为“新发传染病和污染的预防、控制和建模方面的前沿挑战”的介绍性会议（第一场），专门讨论“污染/去污的界面流动：表面-流体相互作用、破碎、液滴及其相变”（第7次会议），以及专门讨论“溢出效应、传播生态学和动物模型、病毒和细菌疾病”的会议（第8次会议）。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how a respiratory pathogen that emerged in one part of the world can quickly spread globally, paralyze entire economies, and bring local and national healthcare delivery systems to the brink of collapse. Early successes in the use of non-medical interventions to reduce the spread of COVID-19 have highlighted the need for efficient and cost-effective technologies and solutions to mitigate and prevent the spread and transmission of respiratory pathogens in the built environment including residential/commercial buildings, schools, and healthcare/recreational facilities. However, a fundamental understanding of the transmission and spread of respiratory pathogens in the built environment and communities has remained elusive. The proposed Gordon Research Conference (GRC) will be devoted to the critical and important topic of “Fluids in Disease Transmission and Contamination.” The GRC will bring together a group of experts and stakeholders from a broad range of disciplines and fields including fluid dynamics, environmental engineering, applied and computational mathematics, epidemiology, microbiology, virology, and public health. The conference will provide a unique forum for scientific, engineering, and public health communities that rarely meet or interact to discuss and assess the current level of understanding of the fluid dynamics and multiphase transport of pathogen and disease transmission along with its public health implications. This NSF award will enable the conference organizers to broaden participation to the GRC by providing travel grants (including registration costs) to early career researchers including women, junior faculty, post-doctoral researchers, and students from underrepresented groups. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted critical knowledge gaps in the fundamental understanding of the fluid dynamics and multiphase transport of pathogen and disease transmission. Pathogens are transported in fluid phases – air, water, and biological fluids including blood and saliva. In addition, fluid dynamics and multiphase transport play key roles in the design and implementation of efficient and cost-effective pathogen decontamination technologies. Yet, limited research has been devoted to the fluid dynamics and multiphase transport of pathogen and disease transmission in the built environment and communities. The proposed 5-day Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on “Fluids in Disease Transmission and Contamination” will be held in August 14-18, 2022, at Mount Holyoke College (MA). The conference will bring together a group of scientists, engineers, clinicians, public health researchers, and infection control practitioners at various stages of their careers and provide them with a forum to discuss the science, engineering, and healthcare implications of the fluid dynamics and multiphase transport/physics of pathogen and disease transmission. The conference program and discussion will be structured around nine sessions including an introductory session entitled “Front-line challenges in the prevention, control, and modelling of emerging infectious diseases and contamination” (Session 1), a session devoted to “Interfacial flows in contamination/decontamination: Surface-fluid interaction, fragmentation, droplets, and their phase change” (Session 7), and a session devoted to “Spillovers, transmission ecology and animal models, viral and bacterial diseases” (Session 8).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.