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Disrupting Noxious Synergies of Indoor Air Pollutants and their Impact in Childhood Health and Wellbeing, using Advanced Intelligent Multisensing and Green Interventions

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SynAir-G (Disrupting Noxious Synergies of Indoor Air Pollutants and their Impact in Childhood Health and Wellbeing, using Advanced Intelligent Multisensing and Green Interventions)

Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2024-02-29

While the number and types of indoor air pollutants is rising, much is suspected but little is known about the impact of their potentially synergistic interactions, upon human health. Highly susceptible populations include children, allergy and asthma sufferers, and those from low socioeconomic backgrounds, however no specific guidance or interventions are available. SynAir-G aims to reveal and quantify synergistic interactions between different pollutants affecting health, from mechanisms to real life, focusing on the school setting. We will develop a comprehensive and responsive multipollutant monitoring system, advance environmentally friendly interventions, and disseminate the generated knowledge to relevant stakeholders in accessible and actionable formats.

To achieve this vision, SynAir-G will construct and deploy novel and improved sensors of chemical and biological (allergens, microbes) pollutants. These will be tested in a real-world setting, in participating schools of 5 countries around Europe and eventually combined into a multisensing platform.
In the same setting, pollutants will be linked to their sources and two eco-friendly air-purifying devices will be assessed.
Health outcome data will be obtained from children using a gamified application and prospective monitoring, respecting privacy. Highly susceptible children, such as those with allergy or asthma, will act as sentinels to increase sensitivity of the system, that will be able to provide stratified (susceptibility-specific) alerts. Explainable AI will support the near-real time analysis and response. In parallel, cell and mouse models will evaluate the mechanisms and complex dose-responses of the synergistic parameters. SynAir-G will thus provide FAIR data on air pollutants and their sources, a comprehensive and personalized user-friendly solution to monitoring indoor air quality, and proposals for possible interventions and an improved regulatory framework, robustly supporting the Zero Pollution Action Plan. SynAir-G is part of a larger cluster of EU funded research projects known as the Indoor air and health cluster where further synergies will be identified.
All the actions for obtaining access and setting up the SynAir-Child cohort have been taken. All permissions have been finalised in 3/5 centres are progressing towards completion in the other 2. Recruitment has started in one centre and ~250 children have already been recruited. The online system for outcome collection, including a gamified app and a tracker, has also been constructed and is operating. The SynAir-G boxes have been shipped to all destinations and will be installed shortly. Clear plans have been made in order to achieve the full recruitment/follow-up target at the remaining and subsequent school year. The first preliminary results correlating exposures with health outcomes in children, have just become available.

The SYNPHONIE tool has been used to collect data on pollution sources. A School Exposure Matrix was developed and implemented for the first time. Dispersion modelling has commenced, while extensive comparative indoor-outdoor comparisons have been performed for chemical pollutants.

Understand the mechanisms of interaction between pollutants, dose-responses and sequence of events, and generate informative test systems in-vitro and in-vivo:
Several in-vitro models have been set-up, including different cell culture models, lung slices, organoids, for exposure to different pollutants. Some exposures, including complex mixtures have already started; at this stage, results are preliminary.

The first prototype of the integrated SynAir-G Box has been designed and created in 25 copies. It has been shipped to the clinical centres for installation within the classrooms. The SynAir-G Box integrated sensors for chemical and particulate pollutants (Ensensia), as well as allergen bioaerosols (Pollensense), a communication module and a dust collector. The infrastructure for data transmission, storage, visualization and analysis has also progressed and is functional.

SynAir-G has taken the lead of the Working Group on Standardization of the IDEAL Cluster. Joining forces with all the 7 projects, we are progressing in the process of identifying the highest needs and developing relevant standards.
A workshop has taken place, and a number of priorities were set for further exploration, among which an improved IAQ index.
Scientific impacts :Progress during the first reporting period is marked by advancements in understanding pollutant synergy mechanisms, paving the way for a new frontier in research. SynAir-G's efforts have also focused on developing the cutting-edge sensors and employing a number of tools (application, dashboard and wearables) aiming to shed light on the complex interactions between pollutants, offering insights into how they interact and exacerbate health risks.

Impact on Europe's Scientific and Technological Leadership – Innovation Capacity :SynAir-G leverages state-of-the-art sensors, including biological and chemical variants, alongside advanced IoT technologies and artificial intelligence approaches to revolutionize indoor air quality and health promotion. Until M18 of the project, novel sensors have been prepared that will be used to detect respiratory viruses in indoor air, while an integrated multi-pollutant monitoring device has been delivered providing comprehensive environmental assessment. The first version of the advanced artificial intelligence algorithms and cloud services have been prepared aiming to offer precise air quality prediction. An engaging interactive educational game was also developed and used in the first schools participated in the cohort study providing health insights and encouraging participation in indoor air quality monitoring. Together, these innovations represent a significant leap forward in creating healthier indoor environments and mitigating the impact of pollutants on human health and advance significantly in Technology Readiness Level (TRL) offering opportunities for disruptive theoretical and applied advancements.

Societal Impact: In a crucial health topic, SynAir-G has drawn from of the learnings of the first reporting period the foundations to incur significant societal impact, aspiring to establish the capacity to improve the health of children in Europe and beyond, and through them, protect and support Europe’s future excellence. The top-down approach adopted involves the cross-examination of multiple factors, observations, patient feedback and historical as well as real time data, further on ingested by tailored AI algorithms generating meaningful insights exposed to health professionals so as to monitor effectively and contribute to the decision-making processes for designing targeted interventions in critical time windows as in the case of obscene climate or extreme particulate matter exposure events.
SynAir-G poster for dissemination in schools
Team NKUA during recruitment in schools Athens, Greece