As summer wildfire smoke choked Baltimore, UMBC air pollution researchers leapt into action

Starting this May, a series of wildfires in Eastern Canada sent enormous smoke clouds wafting into the U.S., triggering air quality warnings in cities from the Midwest to the Northeast. For days, orange skies backdropped landscapes clouded by acrid air. People who could hunkered inside with the doors and windows shut. Those who had to go out faced itchy eyes, burning throats, and worse.

As a resident of the Baltimore area—which was blanketed with particularly bad smoke in both early and late June—UMBC Professor Chris Hennigan looked at the haze with dismay. But as an environmental engineer who studies air pollution, he had an additional thought: “We were looking at the air quality forecasts, and we thought ‘We have to gather data,’” he says.

The public found many colorful words to describe the summer’s unwanted smoke: brutal, eerie, dystopian.

Hennigan and his team have been working to put numbers to the adjectives. On the roof of the engineering building, the researchers installed a squat, white sensor that monitors the levels of tiny particles in the air, particularly those measuring 2.5 micrometers in diameter or less—smaller than most bacteria. Called PM_2.5, these particles are released in large numbers during fires. They are dangerous to human health because they can work their way into the deepest parts of the lungs and even enter the bloodstream.

The sensor showed huge spikes in PM_2.5 when the smoke blew through, on some days reaching levels considered unhealthy for anyone to breathe.

The researchers also set up equipment to filter particles out of the air. After 24 hours, they collected the filters, which they are storing, neatly labeled, in a refrigerator in Hennigan’s lab.

The filtered samples will advance at least two ongoing investigations, Hennigan says. In one avenue of inquiry, Joel Tyson, Ph.D. ’23, biochemical engineering, is studying how tiny particles can harm human lung cells. Before this year’s smoky summer, Tyson had been studying the toxic effects of particulate matter normally found in the Baltimore air. With the new smoke samples, he will start to investigate whether wildfire smoke particles, per unit, are more toxic than regular urban particulate matter, which comes from sources such as cars and power plants. Some studies have indicated that wildfire particulate matter is indeed more toxic, but more research is needed before any definitive conclusions can be reached.

In another line of research, Hennigan is also studying how particles in the air, including from smoke, may affect the climate. Undergraduate chemical engineering students Danielle Larios ’25 and Luis Rodriguez ’25 are assisting in the investigations.

The researchers study how particles of brown-colored carbon-containing material absorb light. Burning vegetation sends large amounts of this brown carbon into the atmosphere. It’s possible that the particles are trapping significant heat from the sun, accelerating the pace of planetary warming. Such effects are not normally included in global climate models, and better understanding of the process could improve humanity’s ability to predict, and manage, the coming years of climate upheaval.

Climate change and wildfires are intimately linked. This summer was not only smoky, but also scorching. July marked the hottest month ever recorded, and scientists predict that as the world continues to warm, wildfires will continue to increase in quantity and intensity. “Smokeageddon,” as headlines put it, may become the new normal.

Hennigan says recent research illuminates how much wildfire smoke has contributed to air pollution trends. He points to a paper published in September in the scientific journal Nature that estimated that since 2016, wildfire smoke in the contiguous United States has undone around 25% of the progress in air quality made between 2000 and 2016.

For the researchers in Hennigan’s lab, those effects have been felt personally. 

Rodriguez recalled how in June he had to go out to buy a fresh pack of N95 masks. “The smoke was just awful,” he says. Larios says she felt a burning at the back of her throat in just 15 minutes walking to her car.

For Tyson, the effects of the smoke were so bad that at one point he struggled to breathe and had to visit the doctor. The episode, he says, drove home the importance of his toxicology research.

All three note both the complexity of the systems they are studying and the importance of discovering new knowledge that might help society handle the environmental challenges it faces.

“Our work can have real-world impact, and that’s exciting,” says Larios.

Description

The Department of Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering (CBEE) at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) seeks to fill a tenure-track position in the broad fields of biomedical or biomolecular engineering, including areas involving synthetic biology, systems biology, bioinformatics, biomanufacturing, metabolic engineering, and biological materials. We are especially interested in applicants who conduct interdisciplinary research which will complement the current expertise in our department and college.

For full details:  https://cbee.umbc.edu/facultysearch/

UMBC is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Minorities, women, veterans, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Prof. Charles LaBerge receives outstanding faculty award

IFPAC has been leading the way in Advanced Manufacturing Science for over 35 years. 

The annual conference 'IFPAC 2023' held June 4-7, 2023 in North Bethesda, MD and attended by more than 400 people focused on 'A Framework for the future, advanced manufacturing quality & innovation'.

Many students presented their research during two poster sessions. UMBC graduate students mentored by CBEE faculty earned first and second places for the best student poster presentations. 

1st place winner: 

•  Vikash Kumar, Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, PhD
  Poster Title : Reinventing Shake Flask Fermentation: The Membrane Flask

2nd place winners: 

• Vida Rahmatnejad, Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, PhD;  
  Poster Title: Flow Cell: A Completely Noninvasive Monitoring System for Cell Culture Processes
• Revati Kadolkar, Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, PhD;  
  Poster Title: Application of mechanistic modelling for the understanding of tailing in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) 

Lipofuscin is an autofluorescent (AF) pigment formed by lipids and misfolded proteins, which accumulates in postmitotic cells with advanced age. Here, we immunophenotyped microglia in the brain of old C57BL/6 mice (>18 months old) and demonstrate that in comparison to young mice, one-third of old microglia are AF, characterized by profound changes in lipid and iron content, phagocytic activity, and oxidative stress. Pharmacological depletion of microglia in old mice eliminated the AF microglia following repopulation and reversed microglial dysfunction. Age-related neurological deficits and neurodegeneration after traumatic brain injury (TBI) were attenuated in old mice lacking AF microglia. Furthermore, increased phagocytic activity, lysosomal burden, and lipid accumulation in microglia persisted for up to 1 year after TBI, were modified by APOE4 genotype, and chronically driven by phagocyte-mediated oxidative stress. Thus, AF may reflect a pathological state in aging microglia associated with increased phagocytosis of neurons and myelin and inflammatory neurodegeneration that can be further accelerated by TBI.

The UMBC LSAMP 2021-2022 Annual Report highlights involvement in the UMBC LOUIS STOKES ALLIANCE FOR MINORITY PARTICIPATION (LSAMP) program. LSAMP participants have access to individualized advising, campus workshops, funded research experiences, and national and international conferences to strengthen their STEM identity and promote entry into top graduate programs. 

"...sometimes you feel as if you're not making much progress but then you come to understand that your data can be helpful to others. My PI has taught me that my role in the research lab is valuable and that routine observations can lead to progress in an experiment. "

- Excerpt From A Chemical Engineering Major '23 Research Reflection -

FALL 2021 RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (Pg 26 )

Name and Class | Major | Topic | Faculty Mentor | University

• Kaiya Meggett '25 | Pre-Chemical Engineering | Genetics | Dr. Jeff Leips | UMBC

SPRING 2022 RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP  PROGRAM (pg 27)

• Makayla Headley ‘22 | Chemical Engineering | Engineering Education | Dr. Jamie Gurganus | UMBC
• Ouriel Ndalamba ‘23 | Chemical Engineering | Toxicological Chemistry | Dr. Lee Blaney | UMBC
• Diego Iglesias Vega ‘23 | Chemical Engineering | Toxicological Chemistry | Dr. Lee Blaney | UMBC 

"As I increase my involvement in my research project, I begin to appreciate the knowledge I have acquired over my academic career. Knowledge that I previously thought would be unnecessary began to gain purpose in my head as I used it everyday in the lab. Even topics that I knew would be important in my future career were very abstract. But to my surprise and relief, I was able to apply the concepts earlier than expected as an undergraduate researcher. This turned these abstract ideas and theoretical concepts into a useful tool that made my job possible and easier." 

- Excerpt From A Chemical Engineering Major '23 Research Reflection -

SUMMER 2022 RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (pg 34)

FALL 2022 RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM 

Faculty Spotlight (pg 33)

CLASS OF 2022 GRADUATING FELLOWS AND POST-GRADUATION PLANS (pg 40)