Airborne pathogen simulants and mobility testing
Inventors
Hodges, Ulrike W. • Chou, Quin • Malmstrom, Erik • Arnold, Phil M.
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Assignees
Member
SafeTracesSafeTraces provides technology-driven solutions for indoor air quality validation, biosafety, and supply chain traceability. The company specializes in aerosol tracing, DNA-based product tagging, rapid qPCR detection, and cloud-based analytics. Clients span healthcare, infrastructure, real estate, food, and government sectors, supporting regulatory compliance, operational safety, and risk management.
SafeTraces provides technology-driven solutions for indoor air quality validation, biosafety, and supply chain traceability. The company specializes in aerosol tracing, DNA-based product tagging, rapid qPCR detection, and cloud-based analytics. Clients span healthcare, infrastructure, real estate, food, and government sectors, supporting regulatory compliance, operational safety, and risk management.
Publication Number
US-12404560-B2
Publication Date
2025-09-02
Expiration Date
Abstract
Airborne pathogen mobility and the airborne mobility of respiratory droplets, such as saliva, and testing thereof, can be monitored by tracking detectable compounds and measuring concentrations. A display can be presented including a building layout and simulant concentrations released and collected at various locations within a space.
Core Innovation
The invention provides a method of testing and evaluating a building space for possible airborne pathogen travel. The method releases a simulant at a first release location within the building space and collects a portion of the released simulant at a first collection location within the building space, where the release and collection locations are separated by building infrastructure so that measurable airflow occurs from the first release location to the first collection location.
The simulant comprises water, a DNA taggant, and a carrier, and is characterized as having a behavior suitable for simulating human emission of a pathogen. The simulant characteristics match or simulate human emission, including matching or simulating an evaporation rate.
The method receives information of a first amount of the simulant at the first release location and of a second amount of the simulant detected at the first collection location, and generates a report that displays a first graphic element and a second graphic element in a map comprising the first release location and the first collection location. In some embodiments, the map includes a heat map, and the method maps a plurality of collection locations and a plurality of release locations, releases a selected DNA taggant at a release location, collects droplet and/or aerosol samples at collection locations, and quantifies DNA concentrations at the collection locations using qPCR.
Claims Coverage
The independent claims cover methods for testing and evaluating a building space for possible airborne pathogen travel using a water/DNA taggant/carrier simulant characterized to simulate human emission behavior, with release and collection locations selected such that measurable airflow occurs and with mapping and DNA quantification features. Across the independent claims, the inventive features include simulant composition and behavior, airflow-separated release and collection, mapped display of movement, evaporation-rate simulation, multi-location mapping with droplet and aerosol sampling, and qPCR-based DNA concentration quantification, including use of selected DNA taggants.
Airflow-separated simulant release and collection in a building space
releasing a simulant at a first release location within the building space; collecting a portion of released simulant at a first collection location within the building space, wherein the first release location and the first collection location are separated by building infrastructure and wherein measurable airflow occurs from the first release location to the first collection location
DNA-tagged simulant characterized to simulate human emission behavior
releasing a simulant that comprises water, a DNA taggant, and a carrier, wherein the simulant is characterized in having a behavior suitable for simulating human emission of a pathogen
Map-based display of simulant amounts at release and collection locations
receiving information of a first amount of the simulant at the first release location and of a second amount of the simulant detected at the first collection location; generating a report displaying a first graphic element representing the first amount at the first release location and a second graphic element representing the second amount at the first collection location in a map comprising the first release location and the first collection location
Evaporation-rate simulation characteristic matching human emission
wherein the simulant has a characteristic that matches or simulates saliva and wherein the characteristic is an evaporation rate
Multi-location mapping with selected DNA taggant release and droplet/aerosol sampling
mapping a plurality of collection locations; mapping a plurality of release locations; releasing a selected DNA taggant at a release location; collecting droplet and/or aerosol sample at a collection location of the plurality of collection locations
qPCR quantification of DNA concentrations at collection locations
quantifying DNA concentrations at collection locations using qPCR
Collectively, the independent claims define a building-space testing workflow that uses a water/DNA-tagged carrier simulant configured to simulate human emission behavior, released and collected at airflow-separated locations, with movement displayed in map form. Additional independent-claim scope adds simulant evaporation-rate characterization and extends to mapping multiple release and collection sites, releasing selected DNA taggants, collecting droplet and/or aerosol samples, and quantifying DNA concentrations using qPCR.
Stated Advantages
Documented Applications
No documented applications found
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