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Our research in the Aerosol Technology Laboratory (ATL) at the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Texas A&M University addresses the needs for improved monitoring of public health emergencies by focusing on the collection, detection and tracking of hazardous bioaerosols including viruses and infectious particles with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) using the autonomous wetted wall cyclone (WWC) collector system developed in our laboratory. Our broader interest covers the development and testing of airborne nanoparticle monitoring systems and radionuclide emission surveillance in nuclear facilities.

The focus of our research is to combine bioaerosol collection and microbiome analysis with computational modeling to visualize ventilation airflow patterns and study the effect of environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and air velocity on particle resuspension, virus behavior and the development of antibiotic resistance in aerosolized bacteria.

In the seminar we will present how the latest technologies in biological engineering help us analyze infectious bacterial aerosols and mitigate the development of antimicrobial resistance and bioaerosol transmission in ventilation airflow. Our work provides ideas for engineering solutions to reduce the spread of pathogens and maintain sanitation at critical infrastructures including hospitals, portable classrooms, dairy barns, and meat processing facilities.