On October 2nd, Professor Glenn Morrison from the Environmental Sciences and Engineering Department of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, will present how reactive products, such as reactive oxygen species (ROS), can be enriched on indoor surfaces and on airborne particles.

Indoor ozone chemistry generates oxidized, reactive products that exhibit a range of volatilities. As a result, these products are present in air, on surfaces and importantly, on airborne particles. Among these products are reactive oxygen species (ROS) that include organic hydroperoxides. In field and laboratory studies, we have shown that indoor surfaces are enriched in ROS and that an indoor source contributes to ROS on indoor aerosols. Models suggest that partitioning of ROS from indoor surfaces will contribute substantially to the ROS found on indoor aerosols and we have now demonstrated this effect experimentally. Further, ozone reaction products, especially those attached to indoor aerosols, have been shown to be associated with clinically measurable health effects in human panel studies. Combining field observations, laboratory studies and epidemiological evidence, we believe there is value in controlling exposure to ozone reaction products; however, the most effective strategy will be control of PM2.5 rather than attempting to control chemistry itself.

About the speaker:

Glenn Morrison is a Professor in the Environmental Sciences and Engineering Department of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His research expertise lies in chemical and transport phenomena in built environments. He has directed laboratory research projects and field studies of dermal uptake of indoor pollutants, ozone surface chemistry, building forensics, sensor development, pollutant movement in buildings, aerosol transport of SVOCs, exposure implications of smog reactions with human surfaces and hair and related projects. He has studied chemical interactions with building surfaces and occupants, identified mechanisms, and modeled and quantified external and internal exposure to parent chemicals and reaction products. He received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

This seminar will not be available online and will not be recorded.