BACKROUND
Microbes are ubiquitous in indoor environments but understanding their activity, magnitude and the composition and release of microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOCs) has been challenging. Classic indoor air quality measurements pointed to challenges in identifying microbial markers based on a single molecule. More recent, time-resolved laboratory and building-scale observations, point to complex processes on indoor surfaces, indoor dust, the role of occupants, the use of antimicrobials, dependence on relative humidity and the role of substrate governing microbial activity.
The progress in the last few years in understanding indoor air chemistry and microbiology has been remarkable owing to advances in genomic methods and analytical chemistry allowing for quantifying microbial diversity as well as unprecedented number of volatile microbial metabolites.
AIMS ANC SCOPE
The overarching goal of this workshop is to inspire thinking about indoor microbiomes and their effects on indoor air quality through emission of microbial volatile organic compounds and other processes including indoor pollutant removal and/or chemical transformations.
Specific aims include expanding understanding of factors affecting the indoor microbiome, including relative humidity, temperature, and less commonly investigated factors such as indoor lighting. Another specific aim is to work as the broader community towards collaborating on an indoor inventory of microbial signatures, chemotypes and mVOC emission factor databases across microbial taxa, material substrates, and environmental conditions.
The workshop consists of introduction by workshop chairs and invited keynote presentations, followed by Q&A session. Workshop summary report and a collaborative paper with interested workshop attendees are envisaged following this workshop.
PRESENTATIONS
The Indoor Microbiome: Potential for VOC Removal in Indoor Environments
Kerry Kinney University of Texas at Austin, USA
Features of the microbial VOC database 3.0 and unusual biosynthetic pathways of novel mVOCs
Marie Lemfack et al. University of Rostock, Germany
Indoor Microbes and Light
Benjamin Marshall University of Texas at Austin
Microbial Air Quality of Museums and Libraries
Lenka Wimmerova Czech University of Life Sciences, Czech Republic
Probing potential microbiome-VOC connections on HVAC filters and indoor building materials
Elliott Gall Portland State University, USA