EVEN Professor Mark Hernandez has teamed up with local startup, Aerosol Devices Inc., to advance听a new sampling technology for airborne bacterial cells and fungal spores that could pose a significant health risk in indoor environments.
was founded in Fort Collins by听two professional women in aerosols with a goal听to bring听advanced aerosol collector technology to market.听听Aerosol Devices Inc.听has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant for $225,000 to conduct research and development (R&D) work on new devices for the rapid and accurate characterization of airborne microbes.听
Their research will听provide an improved ability to characterize the microbiology of indoor aerosols which has many important engineering and public health benefits for urban society. The instruments they are developing will听have an improved ability to monitor bioaerosols that could pose a health threat to water-damaged buildings; health care settings; transportation centers; and other public venues. These 鈥渘ext generation鈥� 
instruments will provide an 鈥渋nnovative, unobtrusive and practical method for surveying the indoor air we breathe every day, in near real time,鈥� according to a press release.