BREATHE – Real-time detection and quantification of bioaerosols relevant for human and plant health

Project aim: Bioaerosols are among the most complex components of the atmosphere, important pathogens in crops and on trees, and aeroallergens. The overall goal of the BREATHE project is to set the foundation for IT-based real-time atmospheric diagnostics in Serbia by advancing the use of flow cytometry in aerobiological research.

 

About the project: Real-Time Airborne Particle Identifier (Rapid-E) is designed for real-time sampling and analysis of airborne particles and produces light scattering, fluorescence spectrum and the lifetime of fluorescence signals of detected aerosols. Dealing with such a huge amount and diversity of data makes Artificial Intelligence method of choice for analysis. BREATHE will analyse the variability of fluorescence emission for chosen bioaerosols of different age and humidity levels in parallel by using Rapid-E flow cytometer and spectrofluorometer. It will explore the application of novel image processing algorithms for reconstructing a representation of particle morphology based on light scattering. The project will use Artificial Intelligence and data science methods to build a machine learning-based classification model for bioaerosols and deliver the result in real-time. Also, methods for unveiling black-box models will provide relevance scores indicating the most discriminative features. This will allow better classifications by the involvement of domain knowledge in primarily data-driven models. Application of transfer learning concept is expected to improve generalization of the classification models and thus their use on different measurement devices. The results of the research will provide great potential to reinforce the leading position of the Republic of Serbia in the area of aerobiology and atmospheric diagnostics.

 

The implementation of the BREATHE project will serve as the pilot on how a group for modern atmospheric diagnostics, combining researchers from the field of aerobiology, physics, chemistry and data analytics, should work together.