Characterization and Control of Bioaerosol Toxicology for Indoor Environments

PI：Mark Hernandez建议编号：1134594虽然大气中的气相污染物和悬浮颗粒物受到了广泛的关注，但气溶胶的生物含量和生物活性分别被称为生物气溶胶毒理学，却在很大程度上被工程界忽视。当然，这与有关水质的环境工程学观点不一致。作为回应，这项工作将采用定量分子生物学方法在大气环境中使用，明确的目的是评估室内生物气溶胶的组成和毒理学特性。开发的方法将应用于室内气溶胶，因为大多数人类暴露在室内。越来越多的证据表明，空气中颗粒物的生物和无机池都可以作为有效的佐剂，使肺部和粘膜对室内和室外的空气污染敏感。这种致敏作用表现为一系列严重的健康影响，其中一些是众所周知的传染病，但许多属于一般呼吸道疾病，包括但不限于过敏、过敏和致毒反应，通常表现为哮喘。随着呼吸系统疾病在上一代人中的迅速增长，它们与糟糕的室内空气质量以及洪水、风暴、海啸和地震等大规模灾害中商业和住宅建筑库存的回收利用明显相关。关于受水/结构破坏影响的建筑物内的生物气溶胶暴露的信息相对较少。针对这一不足，本研究的一个主要科学目标是全面表征生物气溶胶负荷：生化、生态和毒理学。这项研究的一个相关工程目标是评估应用新一代电动增强型空气过滤器技术以减少室内生物气溶胶暴露的现场效果。无论是在实验室使用替代生物气雾剂，还是在野外。高事故、校园和迪拉德大学和科罗拉多大学附近的被水损坏的建筑将作为这项示范研究的实地地点。迪拉德是新奥尔良一所历史悠久的黑人学院，在卡特里娜飓风中遭受了巨大的破坏。补充Dillard？S相关的NSF支持HRD 1118254，来自科罗拉多州的导师S研究生生物气溶胶研究小组将正式扩展到Dillard？S的学生，他们将接受使用类似REU的格式的现代生物气溶胶评估技术的培训和大学交流。以前发现室内生物气溶胶水平升高或存在其他危险的病原微生物的建筑物，将改装静电增强型过滤器。承运人公司和猎人风扇公司已同意为本干预研究提供实物独立过滤设备。这项研究的内在科学价值在于建立了一套可靠的室内气溶胶基本空气生物学表征工具，其中包括以前从未在大气环境中共同使用过的生化和毒理学指标。工程学的优点在于评估新出现的过滤技术，以经济高效地操纵室内生物气溶胶水平，以广泛的公共健康利益。更广泛的影响来自发现驱动的合作伙伴关系？拥有广泛的生物气溶胶和室内空气质量工程专业知识的大学，以及正在从卡特里娜飓风中恢复的HBCU。该项目将加强迪拉德？S的教育基础设施，并为该地区因卡特里娜飓风而不再有环境工程项目的学生带来现代工业卫生培训能力，杜兰大学已经关闭了该项目。这项工作将为今后纳入更可靠的生物气溶胶分析的一整套室内空气质量指数奠定基本基础，并将室内大气环境的生物特征与建筑物的填海和重新利用做法联系起来。

PI: Mark Hernandez Proposal Number: 1134594While gas phase pollutants and suspended particulate matter in atmosphere have received much attention, the biological content as well as the biological activity of aerosols respectively termed bioaerosol toxicology has been largely ignored by the engineering community. Certainly this is not consistent with the environmental engineering perspective concerning water quality. In response, this work will adapt quantitative molecular biology methods for use in the atmospheric environment, with the express purpose of assessing the composition and toxicological properties of indoor bioaerosols. The methods developed will be applied to indoor aerosols because most human exposure occurs indoors.There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that both biogenic and inorganic pools of airborne particulate matter can act as potent adjuvants that sensitize lungs and mucosal membranes to air pollution both indoors and out. This sensitization manifests through a broad spectrum of serious health effects, some of which are well known infectious diseases, but many of which fall into generic respiratory diseases including, but not limited to, allergenic, hypersensitivity and toxigenic responses which often present as asthma. With the rapid growth of respiratory illnesses over the last generation come their marked association with poor indoor air quality IAQ and the reclamation of commercial and residential building stocks from large-scale disasters: floods, storms, tsunamis and earthquakes. There is relatively little information regarding bioaerosol exposures within buildings impacted by water/structural damage. IAQ regulatory criteria for building reoccupation have not been defined from an epidemiological perspective appropriate for building stocks impacted by disasters.In response to this paucity, a primary scientific goal of this study is to comprehensively characterize bioaerosol loads: biochemically, ecologically and toxicologically. An associated engineering goal of this study is to assess the in-situ efficacy of applying a new generation of electrically enhanced air filter technology for the express purpose of reducing indoor bioaerosol exposure ? both in the lab with surrogate bioaerosols, and in the field. High incident, water damaged buildings on the campuses and in the proximity of Dillard University and the University of Colorado, will serve as field sites for this demonstration study. Dillard is a historically black college in New Orleans, which sustained tremendous damage from Hurricane Katrina. Supplementing Dillard?s related NSF support HRD 1118254, mentoring from Colorado?s graduate bioaerosol research group will be formally extended toDillard?s students, who will be trained in modern bioaerosol assessment techniques using REU-like formats and university exchanges. Buildings that have been previously identified with elevated or otherwise dangerous indoor bioaerosol levels pathogenic microbes, will be retrofit with electrostatically enhanced filters. Carrier Corporation and the Hunter Fan Company have agreed to provide in-kind stand alone filtration equipment for the purposes of this intervention study. The performance of this emerging technology will be as evaluated for its IAQ remediation ability in a sustainable context.The intrinsic scientific merits of this study lie in establishing a robust suite of fundamental aerobiological characterization tools for indoor aerosols, to include biochemical and toxicological indices which have never collectively been used in the atmospheric environment before. Engineering merit lies in the assessment of emerging filter technology to cost-effectively manipulate indoor bioaerosol levels for broad public health benefit. Broader reaching impacts stem from a discovery-driven partnership between an ?R1? University with extensive bioaerosol and IAQ engineering expertise, and an HBCU recovering from Katrina. This project will enhance Dillard?s educational infrastructure and bring modern industrial hygiene training capabilities to underrepresented students in a region that because of Katrina, no longer has Environmental Engineering programs Tulane has closed its program. This work will demonstrate a fundamental basis for the regulatory suite of IAQ indices to include more robust bioaerosol analyses in the future, and link biological characterization of indoor atmospheric environments to building reclamation and reoccupation practices.