RAPID: Personal SARS-CoV-2 Exposure Assessment using a PDMS Wristband

非技术人员新冠肺炎携带者可以通过咳嗽时排出的飞沫传播疾病。还有一种可能性是，新型冠状病毒SARS-CoV-2的感染可以通过称为气雾剂的较小液滴传播，这些液滴只需说话或呼吸就能释放出来。虽然较大的液滴会迅速落到地面，但这些较小尺寸的气雾剂可以在空气中停留更长时间，飞行距离远远超过6英尺。这一点尤其令人担忧，因为没有症状或症状轻微的感染者可能在不知不觉中促成了新冠肺炎的传播。空气传播的SARS-CoV-2气雾剂对医护人员和接近公众工作的人，如杂货店店员或运输工人具有重要影响。测试一个人感染风险的一种方法是确定他们周围空气中的病毒数量。该项目将开发一种由柔软的硅橡胶制成的低成本腕带，可以用来快速检测一个人暴露在空气中的SARS-CoV-2气雾剂。这款腕带的收集效率将在我们的实验室确定，在现实世界中检测空气传播病毒的能力将在医院新冠肺炎病房的医护人员中进行测试。这个腕带的简单设计可能会改变新冠肺炎感染的评估方式。这项研究至关重要，因为美国的病例达到了高峰，随着避难所就位订单的减少，我们为可能出现的第二波感染做好了准备。该项目的成果将与医院网络以及更广泛的公共卫生组织共享。在寒冷和流感季节，还将向小学生发放腕带，作为有关呼吸道病毒传播的学习模块的一部分，测试SARS-CoV-2和其他空气传播病毒。这项快速提案涉及到迫切需要监测空气中携带SARS-CoV-2的气溶胶水平，作为评估个人感染风险和识别暴露热点的关键策略。PI的愿景是开发一种可穿戴、低成本、高度可部署的采样设备，称为Fresh Air腕带。设想的装置将在佩戴时将空气中的成分被动地浓缩到聚合物膜吸附材料棒上。关键成分是这种膜的组成，即基于聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)的材料，之所以选择这种膜，是因为它有效地吸附了可能包括脂膜病毒(如SARS-CoV-2)的非极性化合物。该项目的一个重要重点是确定适用于被动采样器的基于PDMS的材料的物理性质和具体配置，这有助于简单快速地评估空气中携带SARS-CoV-2病毒的气溶胶的暴露。国家科学基金会这一快速项目的目标是开发一种可穿戴的低成本环境采样设备，用于检测个人接触SARS-CoV-2病毒，通过确定PDMS的吸附特性来告知个人潜在的新冠肺炎感染风险。这项工作的紧迫性源于需要限制与SARS-CoV-2的接触，以减少新病例的发生，特别是在卫生保健和其他高危工作人员中。具体的研究目标包括：(1)确定基于PDMS的采样器上病毒采集的大小分辨效率，以及(2)展示新鲜空气采样器在评估卫生保健人员暴露在空气中的SARS-CoV-2的有效性。这一研究项目的主要成果包括一种廉价的暴露评估工具和一种个人或团体可以用来保护自己健康的快速便携检测方案。项目成果将通过与耶鲁纽黑文医院的利益相关者以及更广泛的其他医院网络共享暴露数据和采样器设计来传播。为了增加参与度，PI计划在传统的寒冷和流感季节将腕带引入纽黑文公立学校五年级的班级，分析鼻病毒感染，并开发并在全国范围内分发关于呼吸道病毒传播的学习模块，包括SARS-CoV-2。这项快速反应研究(RAPID)拨款支持的研究将开发一种可穿戴的低成本环境采样设备，用于检测个人接触SARS-CoV-2病毒，资金来自CARE法案，该法案由数学和物理科学总监材料研究部的凝聚态物质物理计划管理。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACTPeople with COVID-19 can spread the disease through droplets expelled when coughing. There is also a possibility that infection of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 can be spread through smaller droplets, called aerosols, released by simply speaking or breathing. While larger droplets quickly fall to the ground, these smaller sized aerosols can stay in the air for longer and travel distances far greater than six feet. This is especially concerning because infected people with no or mild symptoms could unknowingly be contributing to the spread of COVID-19. Airborne SARS-CoV-2 aerosols have important implications for healthcare workers and people that work in proximity to the public, such as grocery clerks or transit workers. One way to test a person’s risk for infection is to determine the amount of virus in the air around them. This project will develop a low-cost wristband made from a soft silicone rubber that can be used to rapidly detect a person’s exposure to airborne SARS-CoV-2 aerosols. This wristband’s collection efficiency will be determined in our lab, and the ability to detect airborne viruses in a real-world setting will be tested with healthcare workers in a hospital COVID-19 patient ward. The simple design of the wristband could shape how COVID-19 infection is assessed. This research is critical, as cases in the US peak and we prepare for a possible second wave of infections as shelter in place orders are eased. Results from this project will be shared with hospital networks and more broadly with public health organizations. Wristbands will also be given to elementary school children during cold and flu season to test for SARS-CoV-2 and other airborne viruses as part of a learning module on the spread of respiratory viruses.TECHNICAL ABSTRACTThis RAPID proposal concerns the urgent need for monitoring levels of airborne SARS-CoV-2-laden aerosol as a critical strategy for assessing an individual’s risk of infection and identifying hotspots of exposure. The PI's vision is to develop a wearable, low-cost, highly deployable sampling device called the Fresh Air wristband. The envisioned device would passively concentrate airborne constituents onto a polymeric membrane sorbent bar while being worn. The critical component is the composition of this membrane, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based material, which was chosen given its efficient sorption of non-polar compounds that potentially include lipid enveloped viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2. An important focus of this project is identification of the physical properties and specific configuration of PDMS-based materials appropriate for a passive sampler, useful for simple and rapid exposure assessment of airborne SARS-CoV-2-laden aerosols. The goal of this NSF RAPID project is to develop a wearable low-cost environmental sampling device for detecting personal SARS-CoV-2 exposure to inform individuals of their potential risk of COVID-19 infection by determining the sorption characteristics of PDMS. The urgent nature of this work stems from the need to limit exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in order to decrease the incidence of new cases, especially in health care and other high-risk workers. Specific research objectives include the following: (1) Determine the size-resolved efficiency of viral collection on the PDMS-based sampler, and (2) Demonstrate utility of the Fresh Air sampler to assess health care providers’ exposure to airborne SARS-CoV-2. The major outcomes of this research project include an inexpensive exposure assessment tool and a rapid portable test protocol that individuals or groups can use to protect their health. Project results will be disseminated by sharing exposure data and sampler design with stakeholders at the Yale New Haven Hospital and more broadly to other hospital networks. To increase participation, the PI plans to introduce wristbands into a 5th grade New Haven Public School class during the traditional cold and flu season, analyze for Rhinovirus exposure, and develop and nationally distribute a learning module on the transmission of respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. This Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant supports research that will develop a wearable low-cost environmental sampling device for detecting personal SARS-CoV-2 exposure with funding from the CARES Act managed by the Condensed Matter Physics Program in the Division of Materials Research of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.