Program Summary
Environmental monitoring for airborne pathogens has historically been, and continues to be, an extremely challenging area of investigation. The current pandemic has motivated the ability to sense the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the atmosphere as a new mechanism for public health monitoring, enabling safer conditions for a wide range of basic activities including work, travel, and school. SenSARS aims to identify SARS-CoV-2 signatures suitable for rapid indoor air monitoring and use these signatures to develop and demonstrate prototype sensors that can detect the virus with sufficient sensitivity, specificity, and speed. This would enable practical monitoring of different environments and provide a warning of possible conditions where exposure and infection may be more likely to occur.