New Progress Toward Better Indoor Air Quality

Between Covid and the increasing impact of wildfires, many of us are paying far more attention to air quality than ever before. And that’s not just about standard AQI, the measure of outdoor air quality; it’s about the air we breathe at home, at work, at school, and anywhere else we spend long periods of time.

This surge of interest in ensuring better air quality indoors sparked a new federally funded program through ARPA-H, a Biden-era agency established within the Department of Health and Human Services to pursue high-impact breakthroughs for human health that don’t fit into traditional funding initiatives. The BREATHE program (short for Building Resilient Environments for Air and Total Health) was set up to improve public health by developing new ways to monitor and enhance the quality of indoor air. Initial funding for BREATHE projects, expected to run to $156 million over five years, was awarded last fall.

The teams working on these projects include:

• The Mayo Clinic, where researchers are designing biosensors and AI models to predict the risk of indoor air triggering illness

• Poppy Health, where scientists are building a genetic sensor capable of recognizing pathogens in the air

• SafeTraces, where a team is working on a biosensor to detect many different kinds of microbes in the air

• Virginia Tech, where scientists are developing a biosensor that could monitor pathogens and allergens in real time

As prototypes of these technologies become available, they will be tested at schools, daycare centers, hospitals, and other high-risk communal settings for up to four years. They’re a big step forward from things like the jury-rigged Corsi-Rosenthal air filtration boxes that so many people built to help keep schools and hospitals safe during the pandemic.

Recently, ARPA-H gathered the BREATHE teams for a demonstration of their approaches. Already, they’ve made significant progress. The showcase featured early prototypes of instruments designed to detect pathogens and allergens, even at extremely low concentrations, as well as to adjust building airflow in response to those findings. The ARPA-H program has defined success ambitiously: systems are supposed to reduce respiratory-related illness by 25% within the target facilities.

According to an ARPA-H recap of the showcase event, “The vision is a built environment that continuously monitors the biology, chemistry and physics of indoor air, identifies threats in real time, and triggers protective responses before occupants are exposed.” ARPA-H made a video highlight reel, and the New York Times had a great report from the event as well if you’re interested in more details.

ARPA-H isn’t the only entity focused on indoor air quality. A new company called Intercept, established recently with a $500 million investment from Anthropic, Stripe, and other organizations, aims to reduce the impact of respiratory infections through the development of new technologies for air filtration.

And while we’re on the subject of airborne pathogens, another recent announcement came from MIT, where scientists have developed a portable nanoparticle-based sensor that could one day be used to diagnose pneumonia and other respiratory conditions through a simple breath test.

If at least some of these projects lead to real-world products, we could be looking at a much healthier future in the places we spend most of our time. Now that’s some good news.