CSI-Style Technique To Target Allergy Triggers
15 June 2010
Dr Jacob Adetunji, Dr Harry Morrow-Brown and Dr Mike Greenwood on the roof of the library at the University's Kedleston Road site, with the instruments gathering air samples.
Researchers at the University of Derby have been awarded £6,000 from the charity MAARA (Midlands Asthma and Allergy Research Association) to investigate air samples from the west of the city.
And the team will be using a forensic technique - more commonly used to examine gun shot residue - in order to analyse the air samples.
The project is entitled: "The characterisation of airborne inorganic particulate matter in western Derby", and involves principal investigators Professor Hugh Rollinson, Dr Jacob Adetunji and Dr Mike Greenwood, from the University's Faculty of Education, Health and Sciences.
They are working in partnership with MAARA founder Dr Harry Morrow-Brown, holder of an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Derby, a General Medical Council Registered Specialist for Allergy and Respiratory Medicine, and still in active clinical practice. He carried out the world's first trials of inhaled steroids for asthma in 1971, now used world-wide, and has carried out much ground-breaking research in allergic disease.
Dr Morrow-Brown is quoted as once saying: "It is a paradox that while Britain has the highest incidence of allergic disease in the world, it also has the most inadequate allergy service."
Dr Greenwood, Assistant Dean within EHS, said: "Our scientists want to trace which solid particles may trigger allergies. Gun shot residue analysis can analyse tiny particles extracted from air samples and viewed within a scanning electron microscope.
"We are applying a forensic technique to analyse a potential pollution problem and the approach, with the help of Dr Graham Souch who runs the University's analytical unit, will help us to identify what elements are in the air samples."
Instruments are currently in position on the roof of the library at the University's Kedleston Road site, to capture air samples. Pumps are continuously drawing air into the samplers at about the same rate as a resting person inhales air.
Dr Greenwood said that solids in the air samples could include metals, salt, organics pollens, fungal spores and currently even traces of volcanic ash! The samples will be analysed over the next few months as part of the pilot project.
Dr Morrow-Brown founded MAARA in 1968 to support allergy research in the Midlands and is a member of the British, American, and European Societies for Allergy and Clinical Immunology, In 2006 he was elected as an International Fellow of the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, being only the tenth British doctor thus honoured by the most prestigious Allergy Association in the world.
MAARA has the most comprehensive continuous database of pollen and spore counts in the UK. The annual hay fever season due to grass pollen starts about now. Other pollens observed include yew, willow, ash, birch, oak, pine, plane, dock, nettle, lime, plantain and mugwort.
As part of this current project brief, a MAARA spokesman said: "The link between inhalable particulate matter and negative health effects is well known," and Professor Rollinson has observed that: "What is less well known is the detailed mineralogical and lithological content of these materials and their specific health impacts."
The aim is to conduct a pilot study in the west Derby area to guide future work in this area. It will also provide a complement to the investigation of pollens and other biological allergens as triggers for allergic reactions, and will focus on those components of inorganic particles in the natural environment which may have a similar effect, but have not been well characterised.
For more information about this news release, contact Deputy Head of Corporate Relations Simon Redfern on 01332 591942 or 07748 920038 or email s.redfern@derby.ac.uk
