POLYSOA Project Overview

Recent experiments have shown that organic material in secondary organic aerosols (SOA) can polymerize leading to new high molecular weight compounds with mass up to 1000 Da. Such polymers are of concern regarding their potential adverse health effects and impact on air quality and climate. High molecular weight compounds have been found in ambient aerosols but their origin is unknown and their identification rudimentary.

Project Goals

• Apply and develop different sophisticated analytical methods to measure high molecular weight compounds of this SOA polymer
• Characterize its chemical and physical bulk parameters

Methods

• Joint measurement campaign at a smog chamber to identify and characterize these polymers produced from different precursors which dominate in anthropogenic and biogenic emission sources
• On-line application of SOA polymers to cell culture systems which are representative for the inner surface of airways and/or alveoli
• Particle-cell interactions will be investigated by ultrastructural and biochemical analyses
• Determine the distribution and localization of particles within the surface-lining layer, the different cell types and subcellular compartments
• Testing of cell cultures for the presence of reactive oxygen species and/or (pro)inflammatory proteins
• Deploy a subset of the analytical tools to analyse ambient samples and apply a selection of them to cell cultures

The project will provide a basis to assess the risk of this new category of airborne contaminants to health as well as the importance of these polymers and the polymerization process with respect to air quality and climate change. Since European research groups are at the forefront of this new scientific development, POLYSOA will significantly raise and strengthen the capabilities and scientific competitiveness of the European Research Area in this field.