Practical Characterization of a Novel Moderated Water Condensation Growth Tube Bioaerosol Sampler

DOMINICK HESKETT, Tim Gordon, Braden Stump, Patricia Keady, Aerosol Devices Inc.

     Abstract Number: 365
     Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods

Abstract
The Biospot-GEM™ bioaerosol sampler was developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as an easy-to-use, inexpensive, yet performant bioaerosol sampler for interfacing with existing biological analysis workflows such as culturing/infectivity assessment, genomic sequencing, and RT-qPCR. Traditional bioaerosol samplers, such as filters and impactors, damage biological particles through mechanical stresses and desiccation negatively effecting the vitality of the captured biological material. Moderated water condensation growth capture eliminates these sampling risks and better maintains sample integrity of the biological materials. This sampler can be adapted to collect a concentrated sample onto a solid substrate, onto a sterile swab (patent pending), and into liquid depending on downstream processes. Swab and liquid collection allow for sampling into a genomic preservative (Nieto-Cabellero et. al. 2018, patent pending) or artificial saliva prior to collection to preserve sample fidelity at the moment of capture. In this presentation, we will discuss sampler design and performance characteristics including collection efficiency of the sampler as a function of particle size and collection terminus. With FEA modeling of the impaction nozzle, we increased the capture efficiency for sampling into liquid to be comparable to the capture efficiency of solid sampling with the same instrument.