AAAR 34th Annual Conference
October 12 - October 16, 2015
Hyatt Regency
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Development of a Novel Microscope Spectrofluorometer for Individual Bioparticle Characterization
BENJAMIN E. SWANSON, Donald R. Huffman, J. Alex Huffman, University of Denver
Abstract Number: 693 Working Group: Bioaerosols
Abstract Primary biological aerosol particles (PBAPs), such as pollen, spores, bacteria and their fragments are a ubiquitous presence within indoor and outdoor atmosphere and are related to a variety of human health and environmental effects. Most bioparticles contain biological fluorophores which can be readily detected via fluorescence spectroscopy, even without the use of fluorescent stains. Previous work has shown that broad categories of bioparticles can be differentiated based on the fluorescence signals of individual particles. Many methods exist to detect and characterize these particle types. However, these methods are often large and expensive. Recently a number of single-particle fluorescence spectrometers have been developed to characterize bioparticles in real-time in the field, however these instruments typically cost >$100k. Here we discuss the development of a novel instrument (patent pending) designed to simultaneously characterize fluorescence spectra from many individual bioparticles, but with a goal of drastically reducing instrument and analysis costs and increasing the spatial coverage of samples collected in parallel. We have developed a working prototype and will discuss here the current state of operation, including examples of spectra achievable by the technique and application to atmospheric samples.