Hernandez teams with startup to advance new technology

Mark Hernandez, professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, has partnered with Aerosol Devices Inc., a Fort Collins startup, to advance a new sampling technology for airborne bacterial cells and fungal spores that could pose a significant health risk in indoor environments. Aerosol Devices has received a $225,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Technology Transfer grant for research and development.

The research will include instruments that have an improved ability to monitor bioaerosols that could pose a health threat to water-damaged buildings; health care settings; transportation centers; and other public venues. These “next generation” instruments will provide an “innovative, unobtrusive and practical method for surveying the indoor air we breathe every day, in near real time,” according to a press release.