New liquid-coated air filter improves early detection and analysis of airborne pathogens
Researchers at the University of Maine and the University of Massachusetts Amherst have designed a new liquid-coated air filter that can improve the early detection and analysis of airborne bacteria and viruses, including those that cause COVID-19.
Traditional air filters help control the spread of disease in public spaces such as hospitals and travel hubs, but struggle to keep captured pathogens viable for testing. This inefficiency can hamper scientists’ ability to identify biological threats early and impede all response and defense measures.
A research team led by Caitlin Howell, UMaine associate professor of biomedical engineering, has developed a composite membrane with a filtering liquid layer better suited to trapping viable bacterial and viral samples for analysis. . They modeled it on the Nepenthes membrane, which has slippery edges and inner walls that allow insects to fall and become trapped in their digestive juices. By keeping captured bacteria and viruses testable, researchers believe the new liquid-coated air filter could be used in air sampling efforts, early detection of pathogens, and biosurveillance for national security. said to be able to strengthen
Dr. Robert Bowie, Medical Director of the Down East Emergency Medicine Institute, said: “Knowing you’re safer makes it easier to leave loved ones to go to work and care for others.”
A group of researchers developed multiple types of filters, including liquid-coated membrane technology, and tested their ability to retain and release E. coli bacteria. SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. JC polyomavirus that attacks the central nervous system.
In particular, they found that high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters with liquid-coated membranes captured more airborne pathogens than those without. The team published their findings in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
“In the early stages of the pandemic, no one knew where the virus was in the air and where it wasn’t, so we were watching in real time how much trouble it was causing. We had a system that could handle it, so it was our responsibility to step up and help,” says Howell.
This project was an important interdisciplinary effort spanning the fields of biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, and microbiology. The UMaine biomedical engineering team includes Daniel Regan, lead author and recipient of the Susan J. Hunter Presidential Award. Student Jeon Guifon and former master’s student Justin Hardcastle. The microbiology team, led by Associate Professor Melissa McGinnis, included Avery Bond, who holds a PhD. A student of molecular and biomedical sciences, Claudia Desjardins was then a university laboratory assistant in wastewater analysis. The chemical engineering team based at UMass Amherst is Professor Jessica Schiffman and her Ph.D. Joining the team was Andrew Holmes, a biocontainment research scientist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
Regan announced in March 2019, based on conversations with military researchers and concerns about detecting potential contamination during medical evacuations, that liquid-coated aerosols to trap bacteria-laden aerosols could be used. He was the first to propose the original concept of air filters to his dissertation committee. He was also featured in his 2020 UMaine Student Symposium presentation titled “Optimizing Liquid-Gated Membranes for Bioaerosol Capture and Release,” and received Dr. Susan J. Hunter’s Presidential Research Impact Award.
This concept was further developed and refined early in the COVID-19 pandemic when Howell, Maginis, Schiffman, and Holmes realized that it could also be applied to virus-bearing aerosols and applied for funding from the National Science Foundation. rice field. In 2020, this project earned him his NSF EAGER Award of $225,000. This is an early concept grant that supports “untested but potentially transformative research ideas and approaches”.
“COVID-19 is a constant reminder of the critical role biosurveillance can provide in giving decision makers more information to mitigate biological risk,” said Regan. . On Washington, DC’s Strategic Risks: “In the last year alone, pathogens with serious consequences have emerged, including the monkeypox (or mpox) outbreak, the resurgence of Ebola Sudan, and the rising number of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases. The need for early warning of pathogens could not be greater, and we hope that further investment in liquid-coated air filters will help advance biosurveillance capabilities for aerosol detection. “
Original: New liquid-coated air filter improves early detection and analysis of airborne pathogens
Than: University of Maine | University of Massachusetts
