New Personal Sampling Methods that Conform to an Aerosol Deposition Convention

候选人：我的长期职业目标是成为一名合格的，外部资助的独立研究人员，将在减少职业暴露于呼吸危害方面产生影响。我的背景是研究人类气溶胶的可吸入性和个人气溶胶采样器的性能。我拥有密歇根大学工业卫生博士学位和工业卫生与有害物质硕士学位。我还发表了4篇第一作者同行评议的出版物，并在国际和国内会议上发表了重要的演讲经验。我目前是犹他大学落基山职业与环境健康中心（RMCOEH）的终身助理教授。通过这个提议的K01，我将建立在我的论文和以前的经验，将其转化为创新项目的发展，推进工作场所空气采样的科学，以更好地保护工人的健康。职业发展计划：这个K01奖将通过在职业健康研究方面提供密集的、有监督的职业发展经验，从而实现我成为一名独立学术研究人员的目标。我的终极职业目标是：制定创新的R01研究计划建立高质量的外部资助的研究项目。我的导师咨询委员会（具体专业见研究策略）由以下人员组成：罗德尼·拉尔森博士，CIH（主要导师；工业卫生）；7 JoAnn Lighty博士（化学工程）；7 Samuel Paik，博士，CIH（工业卫生-劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室）；7 Eric Pardyjak，博士（机械工程）；7 John Veranth博士（药理学与毒理学）；埃里克·伍德，医学博士，公共卫生硕士（职业医学）。我的职业发展计划包括：1)每月与委员会开会，2)获得研究员证书，3)参加期刊俱乐部，4)参与标准制定，5)流体动力学技术课程，6)重要的体验式学习。RMCOEH是一个由niosh赞助的教育和研究中心（ERC），拥有高素质的教师，并与其他学术部门和机构，相关行业和政府实体建立了重要的联系。加上我专注的职业发展计划，这营造了一个致力于将我发展成为一名富有成效的独立调查员的制度环境。研究：这项研究的目标是设计、开发和测试一种新的个人气溶胶采样器，该采样器将收集更多与生物相关的空气中颗粒。这将有助于改进对工人健康风险的量化和保护。该项目的一个独特之处在于，将在一个专门设计的低速风洞中进行采样器测试，以模拟室内暴露场景。与其他采样器测试方法相比，这种环境与典型的工人暴露更相关，并且尚未用于采样器开发。研究计划是基于改进和/或修改现有的个人可吸入气溶胶采样器。目前用于测量工作场所个人暴露的大多数粒径选择性气溶胶采样器（即可吸入、胸部或可呼吸采样器）都是根据颗粒渗入人体呼吸道各部分的标准制定的。实际上，在呼吸过程中吸入的一些颗粒会被呼出而不会沉积在体内。因此，真正的生物相关剂量不包括呼出的气溶胶。一种很有前途的“沉积取样器”方法涉及多孔聚氨酯泡沫插入物，作为粒径选择性的收集介质。在拟议的研究中，这种类型的泡沫将与市售的可吸入气溶胶采样器（n=324个样本）串联使用。通过这种方式，可以通过改变泡沫的孔隙度和厚度来改变取样器的吸入效率（即它将收集多大大小的颗粒）。使用t检验和偏差图，这些采样器原型的性能将与新提出的沉积采样标准进行比较。最终，本研究旨在改进现有的采样技术，以提供更多与生物学相关的接触评估数据，从而在流行病学研究中加强接触与疾病之间的关系，同时更好地保护工人的健康。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Candidate: My long-term career goal is to become a well qualified, extramurally funded independent researcher that will have an impact in reducing occupational exposure to respiratory hazards. My background is in studies of human aerosol inhalability and personal aerosol sampler performance. I have a PhD in Industrial Health and an MPH in Industrial Hygiene & Hazardous Substances, both from the University of Michigan. I also have 4 first-author peer-reviewed publications and significant experience presenting at international and national conferences and meetings. I am currently a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of Utah, Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational & Environmental Health (RMCOEH). Through this proposed K01, I will build on my dissertation and previous experience to transfer it into the development of innovative projects that advance the science of workplace air sampling to better protect worker's health. Career Development Plan: This K01 award will further my goal to be an independent academic researcher by providing an intensive, supervised career development experience in occupational health research leading to research independence. My ultimate career goals are: 1. Develop innovative R01 research proposals 2. Establish a high-quality, extramurally funded research program 3. Provide superior graduate level teaching My Mentor Advisory Committee (see Research Strategy for specific expertise) consists of: 7 Rodney Larson, PhD, CIH (primary mentor; Industrial Hygiene); 7 JoAnn Lighty, PhD (Chemical Engineering); 7 Samuel Paik, PhD, CIH (Industrial Hygiene - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory); 7 Eric Pardyjak, PhD (Mechanical Engineering); 7 John Veranth, PhD (Pharmacology & Toxicology); and 7 Eric Wood, MD, MPH (Occupational Medicine). My career development plan includes: 1) monthly meetings with my committee, 2) obtaining a Research Investigator Certificate, 3) participating in Journal Clubs, 4) participating in standards setting, 5) technical coursework in Fluid Dynamics, and 6) significant experiential learning. The RMCOEH is a NIOSH-sponsored Education & Research Center (ERC) with well-qualified faculty and significant ties to other academic departments and institutions, relevant industries and government entities. Together with my focused career development plan, this fosters an institutional environment committed to my development into a productive, independent investigator. Research: The goal of this research is to design, develop and test a new personal aerosol sampler that will collect a more biologically-relevant fraction of airborne particulates. This would allow improved quantification of and protection from worker's health risks. A unique aspect of this project will be sampler testing in a specially-designed low speed wind tunnel that simulates indoor exposure scenarios. This environment is more relevant to typical worker exposures than other sampler testing methods and has not been used for sampler development. The research plan is based on the improvement and/or modification of existing personal inhalable aerosol samplers. Most particle size-selective aerosol samplers that are currently used to measure personal exposures in the workplace (i.e., inhalable, thoracic or respirable samplers) are based on criteria established for particle penetration into various portions of the human respiratory tract. In reality, some particles that are inhaled during breathing will be exhaled without deposition into the body. The true biologically-relevant dose would therefore not include the exhaled aerosols. A promising method for a "deposition sampler" involves porous polyurethane foam inserts that act as collection media for particle size selectivity. In the proposed research, this type of foam will be used in series with a commercially-available inhalable aerosol sampler (n=324 samples). In this way, the aspiration efficiency of the sampler (i.e., what size particles it will collect) can be modified by altering the porosity and thickness of the foam. Using t-tests and bias maps, the performance of these sampler prototypes will then be compared to newly-proposed criteria for deposition sampling. Ultimately, this research aims to improve existing sampling techniques in order to provide more biologically-relevant exposure assessment data, which would strengthen the relationship between exposure and disease in epidemiological studies, while also better protecting worker's health.