Hypothesis
aeroHEALTH work is organised to address these research questions:
- Does atmospheric photochemical aging of aerosols and the associated increase and change in the organic aerosol fraction alter aerosol-induced health effects?
- Do health effects of aged anthropogenic and aged natural combustion aerosols (wildfires) depend on the specific chemical composition of the aerosol emission source?
- Are health effects of aged biogenic aerosols different from aged anthropogenic aerosols and do they depend on the aging process?
- How does the interaction of biogenic and anthropogenic constituents of primary and secondary origin influence the biological and health effects during aging?
- Does the oxidation of aerosols increase or decrease the toxicity, depending on the chemical composition of the aerosol and the duration/intensity of photochemical or night-time aging?
- What is the role of transported bacteria, fungi and viruses as well as microbial debris in inducing adverse health effects?
The synergistic expertise of the partners is complemented with cutting edge infrastructures for the simulation of atmospheric aging, including extreme endpoints, aerosol analytics, exposure approaches, in vitro and in vivo model systems. World-class biological services are provided by the infrastructure to investigate the biological outcomes. Finally, incorporation of new “Big Data” and Artificial Intelligence methods will be developed to elucidate the connection between environmental exposure and health effects.