Fiber sampler for recovery of bioaerosols and particles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9988664-B2
Application number	US-201514950813-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 24, 2015
Priority date	Apr 8, 2004
Publication date	Jun 5, 2018
Grant date	Jun 5, 2018

Abstract

A bioparticle collection device and an aerosol collection system. The bioparticle collection device includes a collection medium including a plurality of fibers formed into a fiber mat and configured to collect bioparticles thereon, and includes a viability enhancing material provider disposed in a vicinity of the plurality of fibers and configured to provide a viability enhancing material to the collected bioparticles to maintain viability of the bioparticles collected by the fiber mat. The aerosol collection system includes an aerosol pumping device configured to entrain particles in an gas stream, an aerosol saturation device configured to saturate the particles in the gas stream with a biocompatible liquid, and an aerosol collection medium downstream from the aerosol saturation device and including a plurality of fibers formed into a fiber mat for collection of the saturated aerosol particles.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for collecting aerosols including bioparticles, comprising:
entraining the aerosols including the bioparticles in a gas stream;
saturating the bioparticles in the gas stream with a biocompatible liquid;
collecting the saturated bioparticles by a collection medium including a plurality of fibers of a fiber mat including a viability enhancing material; and
maintaining viability of the bioparticles while in the fiber mat both during and after collection of the bioparticles with the fiber mat such that the bioparticles collected in the fiber mat are capable of becoming active again after being placed into a favorable environment.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing the viability enhancing material into the collection medium prior to collecting the bioparticles.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the providing comprises providing at least one of water, proteins, carbohydrates, sugars, salts, phosphate buffered saline, and tryptic soy broth.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing the viability enhancing material into the collection medium during the collecting of the aerosol particles.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the providing comprises providing at least one of water, proteins, carbohydrates, sugars, salts, phosphate buffered saline, and tryptic soy broth.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising introducing antioxidant gases into the collection medium.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising
providing a liquid to the fiber mat.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein collecting comprises collecting the bioparticles in said collection medium comprising at least one of polysulfone, polyurethane, nylon, polycaprolacton, and polystyrene.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein collecting comprises collecting the bioparticles in said collection medium comprising at least one of polysulfone, polyurethane, nylon, polycaprolacton, and polystyrene.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein collecting comprises collecting the bioparticles in said collection medium comprising a graphite coated fiberweb support supporting said fiber mat.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein collecting comprises collecting the bioparticles in said collection medium comprising a graphite coated fiberweb support supporting said fiber mat.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein collecting comprises collecting the bioparticles in said collection medium being provided with a nutrient supply of tryptic soy broth.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein collecting comprises collecting the bioparticles in said collection medium being provided with a nutrient supply of tryptic soy broth.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein collecting comprises collecting the bioparticles in said collection medium controlled at a relative humidity between 65 to 85%.

15. The method of claim 7 , wherein collecting comprises collecting the bioparticles in said collection medium controlled at a relative humidity between 65 to 85%.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the fiber mat after collection of the bioparticles in a relative humidity controlled environment.

17. The method of claim 7 , further comprising storing the fiber mat after collection of the bioparticles in a relative humidity controlled environment.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein collecting comprises providing to the collection medium agents to reduce oxygen toxicity.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein providing agents comprises providing at least one of enzymes or fullerenes to reduce said oxygen toxicity.

20. The method of claim 7 , wherein collecting comprises providing to the collection medium agents to reduce oxygen toxicity.

Assignees

• Res Triangle Inst

Inventors

• Ensor David Samuel
• Walls Howard Jerome
• Foarde Karin K

Classifications

• B82Y15/00 Primary

  Nanotechnology for interacting, sensing or actuating, e.g. quantum dots as markers in protein assays or molecular motors · CPC title

• G01N1/2214

  by sorption · CPC title

• B01D2239/025

  comprising nanofibres · CPC title

• C12Q1/24 Primary

  Methods of sampling, or inoculating or spreading a sample; Methods of physically isolating an intact microorganisms · CPC title

• G01N2001/2223

  aerosol sampling devices · CPC title