Resubmission: An interdisciplinary study on the impact of aerosolized particulate matter from aged wildfire plumes on environment and human health

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Jeroen Buters; Professor Dr. Ralf Zimmermann
• Subject Area: Toxicology, Laboratory Medicine ; Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 429936378

Emissions from wildfires are major contributors to the global budget of ambient particulate matter (PM) impacting air quality, absorbing and scattering incoming radiation, forming haze and clouds. Several adverse health effects are discussed, including induction of diseases via inflammatory and gene-toxic pathways. By using the world largest aerosol chamber (LAC) in Tomsk, Russia, and the expertise to simulate wildfires and the ageing of the emitted aerosols it will be possible to collect enough fresh and aged PM for a study of biological effects of fine particles which also can reveal the physicochemical parameters responsible for the adverse effects. The scientific questions tackled within the interdisciplinary project are related to the simulation of combustion at the conditions of real world environment, realistic ageing of emitted aerosols, as well as comprehensive aerosol characterization and characterisation of the biological effects. For this purpose, wildfires are simulated according to existing procedures in the LAC. The emissions are aged (dark ageing and und simulated sunlight) and the ageing process is supervised by on-line analytical methods. Only the large volume of the LAC chamber of 1,800 m3 allows collecting sufficient amounts of aged wildfire particulate matter (PM2.5) for combined thorough chemical, microphysical and toxicological investigations.The consortium of Technical University Munich (TUM), University of Rostock (UR), and Moscow State University (MSU) will address the following hypotheses: A: The phase of biomass combustion, open flame or smouldering, significantly impacts the PM composition and the health relevance; B: The type of fuel (i.e. peat, wood) controls the PM composition and the health relevance; C: With ageing and type of ageing, depending on ageing time and type of biomass burning, particulate matter might be toxified or de-toxified; D: The balance on oxidative-acting and anti-oxidative compounds is important for relevant toxicological endpoints. This balance changes during aerosol ageing. To address these hypotheses the main objectives within the project are followed up in three work packages: I. LAC combustion and ageing experiments (MSU), II. Characterization of BB aerosols (UR) and III. Biological effects of BB particulate matter (TUM).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Russia
• Partner Organisation: Russian Foundation for Basic Research, until 3/2022
• Cooperation Partner: Professorin Dr. Olga B. Popovicheva, until 3/2022