Elucidating mechanistic processes governing interaction of viruses with non-biological indoor built surfaces

Viruses are released into indoor air through activities such as sneezing. Once airborne, viruses travel through an unpredictable route, potentially landing on indoor surfaces where they become a potential source of viral disease transmission. Current approaches to address this threat include disinfection, handwashing, and designing new surfaces that can reduce attachment or inactivate the virus.

The success of any of these approaches is dependent on understanding how virus particles reach and attach to surfaces. There are two key knowledge gaps that must be addressed to meet this need. First is the need to better understand how viruses attach and detach on surfaces.

Second is the need to better understand how indoor air dynamics affect virus transport to surfaces. The goal of this research project is to systematically address both knowledge gaps. This will be achieved through combined experimental tests and computational modeling of airborne virus transport and attachment in a simulated room facility.

The facility will have carpets, hard wood floors, tiles, and other commonly used surfaces. Well characterized test viruses will be released in the facility, and their transport and attachment to various surfaces will be tracked and quantified. The impact of activities known to affect air disturbance and resuspension such as walking will be assessed.

Successful completion of this research will lead to increased understanding of viral attachment to surfaces. Societal benefits include potential improvements to public health by creating safer indoor spaces. Additional benefits to society will result from educational opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students, as well as high school students through summer camps to improve the Nation’s STEM workforce and increase scientific literacy.

The goal of this project is to quantify, assess, and predict how surface properties and boundary flow affect the attachment, adhesion kinetics, transfer, and re-aerosolization of select enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. This research will generate new knowledge by combining computational and experimental approaches to simulate the fate and transport of selected viruses in the boundary layer and surfaces of indoor spaces.

The project outputs will be: (1) the determination of significant parameters and the range of influence of relevant dimensionless groups that encompass the virus-surface interaction in an indoor environment, and (2) a computational framework that captures the physico-mechanical processes coupled with virus-surface dynamics in an indoor space to predict fate and transport of the virus in the boundary layer. Measles and vaccinia will be used as prototype enveloped viruses and adenovirus as a prototype non-enveloped virus.

Flow dynamics and surface chemistry will be coupled to evaluate the interacting influence on virus deposition, attachment, and detachment from surfaces. Successful completion of this research will generate knowledge key for the preparation of future viral outbreaks to reduce transmission rates in health facilities and communities. Additional benefits to society result from a novel outreach program between the University of South Carolina and high school teachers called the “Carolina Masters Program.” In addition, the “Partners for Minorities in Engineering and Computer Science,” will be leveraged to design and implement a week-long summer camp for underserved groups to diversify the STEM community.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.