HYDRA - Hydrogels for Aerosol Capture

HYDRA - 用于气溶胶捕获的水凝胶

• 批准号: 2893174
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Hertfordshire
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2893174
• 关键词: HYDRA; Hydrogels; Aerosol; Capture

Aerosol sampling techniques can collect pathogens from the air for analysis and identification. Dry collection has poor collection efficiency and causes damage to the sample through impaction and dehydration. Engineering new materials that protect a bioaerosol sample and optimise recovery of viable pathogens would be transformative. Viruses and bacteria have evolved to become adept at invading, and remaining viable inside, natural hydrogels like mucus, suggesting hydrogels possess an innate ability to sustain the viability of a bioaerosol sample. Synthetic hydrogels have tuneable physicochemical properties to allow precision engineering for this task. Furthermore, the aqueous environment present allows bioassays for identification of aerosols within the gel itself. This project will combine aerosol science, engineering and polymer chemistry to generate aerosol capture devices with soft hydrogel components. Major questions include: How can the materials be paired with a device for optimal collection? What polymer chemistry captures the most bioaerosols without causing harm? Which approaches to assaying contents will allow for remote monitoring? Do Surface structures effect collection? How will these devices perform in the field? By addressing these questions, we hope to take a significant step towards a big scientific challenge: real-time monitoring of biological airborne threats for the protection of health.

气溶胶采样技术可以从空气中收集病原体进行分析和鉴定。干式收集的收集效率差，并且通过撞击和脱水对样品造成损坏。设计保护生物气溶胶样本和优化活病原体回收的新材料将是变革性的。病毒和细菌已经进化成善于入侵天然水凝胶（如粘液）并在其中保持活力，这表明水凝胶具有维持生物气溶胶样品活力的先天能力。合成水凝胶具有可调的物理化学性质，允许精密工程完成这项任务。此外，存在的水性环境允许进行生物测定来识别凝胶本身内的气溶胶。该项目将结合联合收割机气溶胶科学，工程和高分子化学，以产生气溶胶捕获装置与软水凝胶组件。主要问题包括：如何将材料与设备配对以实现最佳收集？什么聚合物化学能捕获最多的生物气溶胶而不造成伤害？哪种含量测定方法允许远程监控？表面结构是否影响收集？这些设备在现场的表现如何？通过解决这些问题，我们希望朝着一个重大的科学挑战迈出重要的一步：实时监测空气中的生物威胁，以保护健康。