Felipe de Oliveira Galvão

Biomass burning is a global concern in terms of climate change, biological diversity, and health hazards. Globally, ca 3 billion people are exposed to biomass particulate matter (PM). Biomarkers of exposure and effect are fundamental for understanding environmental exposures, mechanistic pathways, and monitoring early adverse outcomes. Our aim is to assess the acute cardiopulmonary (CP) health effects due to short-term exposure to biomass PM among the population in Amazon deforestation arc together with in vitro analyses of sampled PM in a lung cell model to provide a mechanistic characterization of the health hazard. The project is based on a panel study in Amazon, with measurements of CP health and effect biomarkers using an exposure lag of 1-7 days during the wet and dry season with exposure assessment based on personal PM monitoring and urinary metabolites. The mode of action is assessed by in vitro studies using sampled PM. The project addresses the so far neglected and less understood issue of acute CP effects due to short-term exposure to PM from wildfires. This project will be the first of its kind to combine personal monitoring of exposure, specific CP biomarkers, and functional tests with mechanistic in vitro studies of collected PM in Amazon. How does this translate to public awareness? To reduce the gap between high-quality research and effectively engaging affected communities we will use environmental education strategies among the exposed population.

Biomass PM exposure has emerged as a global risk factor of equal magnitude for COPD and lung cancer pathogenesis as tobacco smoke. To limit negative health effects of biomass PM accurate risk assessment (RA) is required, which requires a complete understanding of the mode-of-action. Air pollution is a complex mixture of compounds with different biological activities that makes risk assessment a challenge. Current strategies for risk assessment of air pollution are however based on a pollutant-by-pollutant approach. This is a great simplification and excludes the possibility of mixture effects that may underestimate actual human health risks. Authorities have recommended risk assessment approaches based on toxicity evaluations of whole mixtures since they inherently address interaction effects among pollutants, but such models are still lacking. The main objective of this project is to improve the knowledge about health effects of biomass burning PM. The focus will be on increasing the understanding of mixture effects and mode-of action of biomass PM in relation to development of COPD and lung cancer. For this we will use whole mixture biomass PM samples from Brazilian Amazon and Cashew roasting regions and three different in vitro models.