Advanced Sampler for Assessing Exposure to Biological Aerosols

 描述(申请人提供)：在本研究中，响应PA-13-129《职业安全与健康研究(R01)》，将进一步开发具有极高浓缩率的先进生物气溶胶采样器原型，并将其用于职业环境。在新的采样器中，空气中的颗粒物带电，然后沉积在超疏水表面，然后用20微米L液滴将它们从表面除去。这允许将整个样品浓缩到一个小液滴中。建立了一个基于该方法的样机，并在早期的研究中进行了简要的测试。在这里，它将被重新设计，以达到前所未有的样品浓缩速度(每分钟100-200万)，同时允许同时采集四个样品。新的设计还将改善收集的微生物的可培性和DNA完整性的保存。开发的采样器将用于评估室内办公室、医院、工业设施、学校、 农业环境和户外都是如此。在评估期间收集的生物气溶胶样本将通过多种方法进行分析，以获得更全面的生物气溶胶暴露情况，并评估各种分析方法与新采样技术的兼容性。现场采样时间从10分钟到4小时不等，并将与其他采样器的性能进行比较。非常高的浓缩率将使我们能够检测到暴露在即使是低微生物浓度和长时间的环境中--这是目前的生物气溶胶采样器所缺乏的特征--从而提高我们识别暴露风险和保护受影响人口的能力。这项建议响应了NORA的几个优先研究议程：国家农业、林业和渔业；国家服务；国家运输、仓储和公用事业。采样器的高集中率，加上其占地面积小和低功耗要求，将使其易于部署在多种应用中，不仅用于职业和住宅环境中的暴露评估，而且还用于国土安全领域。未来的研究将探索这项技术的应用，收集空气传播的病毒和纳米颗粒。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In this research, responding to PA-13-129 "Occupational Safety and Health Research (R01)," an advanced bioaerosol sampler prototype with very high concentration rate will be further developed and then used in occupational environments. In the new sampler, airborne particles are electrically charged and then deposited on a superhydrophobic surface from which they are removed by 20 µL liquid droplets. This allows concentrating the entire sample into one small droplet. A prototype sampler based on this approach was built and briefly tested in earlier research. Here it will be redesigned to achieve unprecedented sample concentration rates (to 1-2 million per minute) while allowing collection of four samples simultaneously. The new design will also improve preservation of culturability and DNA integrity of the collected microorganisms. The developed sampler will be used to assess exposures to bioaerosols in indoor office, hospital, industrial facilities, schools, agricultural environment as well as outdoors. Bioaerosol samples collected during the assessment will be analyzed by multiple methods to obtain a more comprehensive picture of bioaerosol exposures and also to evaluate compatibility of various analysis methods with the new sampling technology. Sampling in the field will range from 10 minutes to 4 hours, and performance of the new sampler will be compared to that of other samplers. Very high concentration rates will allow detecting exposures to even low microorganism concentrations and over a long time - features lacking in current bioaerosol samplers - thus improving our ability to identify the exposure risks and protect affected populations. This proposal responds to several NORA's Priority Research Agendas: National Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing; National Services; National Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities. Sampler's high concentration rate, plus its small footprint and low power requirements will make it easy to deploy for numerous applications not only for exposure assessment in occupational and residential environments, but also in Homeland security area. Future research will investigate application of this technology collect airborne viruses and nanoparticles.