NI: BioSkyNet: the first global network of bioaerosols researchers

The air we breathe is teaming with microorganisms, with air currents transporting microbes globally. The earliest efforts to describe the distribution of airborne microbes were carried out by the founding father of microbiology, Louis Pasteur, over 125 years ago; but since then airborne microbes have been largely ignored. One reasons for this is that there are significant technical challenges in collecting airborne microorganisms,and thus microbial ecologists have focused on the low hanging fruit of soil and waterborne microorganisms. Even when efforts have been made to study airborne microorganisms, the research has been largely focused at a local/national level, but air pollution does not respect national boarders. Therefore, we have assembled a new network of world-leading experts in bioaerosols biomonitoring to take a global perspective on the ecology and human and environmental health effects of airborne microorganisms.

Collectively, airborne microorganisms are referred to as bioaerosols, which is simply the fraction of air particles that are from a biological origin. Exposure to poor air quality is a major global driver of poor health, killing 1 in 8 people. Pollen is probably the best known example of a bioaerosol, which as an allogen, has a direct impact on public health. However, live bacteria, fungi, and viruses in the air pose a significant health risk through infectious respiratory diseases such as Legionellosis and Aspergillosis. The negative public health risks in themselves makes research into bioaerosols worthwhile. However, bioaerosols also play central roles in the life cycles of microorganisms, global ecology, and climate patterns. Analysis of bioaerosols at landscape scales has shown that even marine and terrestrial environments are connected over vast distances by exchange of bioaerosols. Indeed, it is well known that bioaerosols can be transported between continents on 'microbial motorways' in the sky (e.g. Saharan dust). Further to this, bioaerosols influence the climate by acting as nucleation forming particles and promoting precipitation. Due to the vast distances involved it is not possible to get the full picture from studies carried out at a local or national level, instead a global perspective is required to study these processes.

A major recent methodological advancement in microbial ecology is the application of 'next generation sequencing' technology. Isolation of DNA from the environment and its analysis with high throughput sequencing has been a key tool in revolutionizing our understanding of the ecology of microbes from soil and water environments. Due to the lower concentrations of microorganisms in air samples this is technically challenging for bioaerosols. Consequently molecular methods are underutilised in bioaerosols research. Nevertheless a number of research groups across the globe have developed methods for molecular (DNA based) analysis of bioaerosols. However, a lack of standardisation between these methods makes it challenging to compare results and draw conclusions from combined datasets. This new network brings these experts together for the first time in order to standardise and further improve these methods. However, a key objective of this network is to make these methods more widely available. The largest burden of air pollution is in lower and middle income countries, where access to advanced molecular methods is limited. Through the network, researchers in lower and middle income countries can access these tools, pushing research forward where the need is greatest.