Microplastics and nanoplastics in indoor air: impacts on human health and environmental concerns

• Grant number: 23/14823-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: February 01, 2024
• End date: January 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering
• Mobility Program: SPRINT - Projetos de pesquisa - Mobilidade
• Principal Investigator: Roberta Cerasi Urban
• Grantee: Roberta Cerasi Urban
• Principal researcher abroad: Benigno Sanchez Cabrero
• Institution abroad: Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT) , Spain
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: São Carlos
• Associated research grant: 22/03087-9 - Plastic pandemic: current exposures to microplastics in cities of the São Paulo State, their implications on health, and the impact of the COVID-19, AP.PNGP.PI

Abstract

The widespread production and use of plastics revolutionized the modern world, contributing, for example, to improvements in health through personal protective equipment (PPEs), but also causing environmental pollution. Recently, the impacts of indoor air microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) on human health have received increasing attention from scientists and the public since humans spend up to 90% of their lives in indoor environments. However, knowledge of airborne MNPs and MNP-induced adverse health outcomes is still limited. Therefore, the objective of this collaborative project includes the identification and quantification of MNPs in indoor environments, focusing on different sites in Brazil and Spain. Moreover, a key aim is to prepare a long-term proposal to determine the impacts of these contaminants on human health. The exchange of information between the different interdisciplinary groups involved in this research should be very enriching and allow undergraduate and graduate students, the proposing researchers, and the institutions to develop and transfer new knowledge, intellectual property (IPs) and expertise, other objectives of this proposal. The data and the project will be managed in line with the FAIR principles, which will allow proposing actions to mitigate exposure to MNPs present in indoor air. (AU)