Advanced Sampler for Assessing Exposure to Biological Aerosols

 描述（由申请人提供）：在本研究中，响应PA-13-129“职业安全和健康研究（R 01）”，将进一步开发具有非常高浓缩率的先进生物气溶胶采样器原型，然后用于职业环境。在新的采样器中，空气中的颗粒带电，然后沉积在超疏水表面上，并通过20微升的液滴将其去除。这允许将整个样品浓缩成一个小液滴。基于这种方法的原型采样器的建立和简要测试在早期的研究。在这里，它将被重新设计，以实现前所未有的样品浓缩率（每分钟1-2百万），同时允许同时收集四个样品。新的设计还将改善所收集微生物的可培养性和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。评估期间收集的生物气溶胶样本将采用多种方法进行分析，以获得更全面的生物气溶胶接触情况，并评估各种分析方法与新采样技术的兼容性。实地采样时间从10分钟到4小时不等，新采样器的性能将与其他采样器进行比较。非常高的浓缩率将允许检测即使是较低的微生物浓度和较长时间的接触-目前的生物气溶胶采样器缺乏这一特征-从而提高我们确定接触风险和保护受影响人口的能力。该提案响应了诺拉的几个优先研究领域：国家农业、林业和渔业;国家服务业;国家运输、仓储和公用事业。采样器的高浓缩率，加上其占地面积小，功耗低的要求，将使其易于部署的许多应用，不仅在职业和住宅环境中的暴露评估，而且在国土安全领域。未来的研究将调查这项技术的应用，收集空气中的病毒和纳米颗粒。

 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.