What’s In Your Personal Microbial Cloud?!
James Meadow!
Postdoctoral Research Associate !
Biology and the Built Environment!
University of Oregon!
!
jfmeadow@gmail.com!
@JamesMeadow!
!
(2013)	
  
Indoor Airborne Bacterial Communities Are
Influenced By Ventilation, Occupancy, and
Outdoor Air Source 
	
  	
  
James F. Meadow
Adam E. Altrichter
Steven W. Kembel
Jeff Kline
Gwynne Mhuireach
Maxwell Moriyama
Dale Northcutt
Timothy K. O’Connor
Ann M. Womack
G. Z. Brown
Jessica L. Green
Brendan J. M. Bohannan
Human-associated bacteria account for 
the occupied difference
Meadow et al. 2013
1m
Sample
Locations:
Desk
Chair
Floor
Wall
HALLWAY
CLASSROOM
OUTSIDE
LecternRamp up
srevuoLnoitalitneVswodniWelbarepO
CAP 1
CAP2
Chairs
Desks
Walls
Floors
a
CAP 1
CAP2
Lactobacillus
Lactobacillus
Corynebacterium
Lactobacillus
Staphylococcus
Staphylococcus
Corynebacterium
Corynebacterium
Phytoplasma
Streptococcus
Streptococcus
Streptococcus
Brevundimonas
Sphingomonas
Alicyclobacillus
Alicyclobacillus
Rhodopseudomonas
Salmonella
Chroococcidiopsis
Salmonella
Roseomonas
b
The type of surface predicts communities
And the way we touch those surfaces
predicts which bacteria are present
2014!
JaccardSimilarity
(as%ofsharedOTUs)
index &
own
phone
index &
other
phones
0
10
20
25%
All
participants
index &
own
phone
index &
other
phones
Only
women
index &
own
phone
index &
other
phones
Only
men
Do you specifically resemble your own phone?!
Occupied
Unoccupied
Air Filter (12 per treatment)
Air Flow Direction
Visqueen Wall
1m
0.15m
Settling Dish (6 per treatment)
Particle Counter (1 per treatment)
2.4 m
3.7m
2.4 m
2.9m
Supply Air Plenum
Test Chamber
4 hours
Person
0
5
10
15
10+µmparticlesabovebackgroundmin−1
2 hours
Person
median
quartile
quartile
maximum
minimum
outliers
●
●
●
●
●
●
● ●
●
●
●
●
●●
●
● ●
●
●
●●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●●
●
●
●
●
●
● ●
● occupied
unoccupied
NMDS 1
NMDS2
4 Hour
−60
−40
−20
0
20
40
60
OTUrichness−mean
occupied unocc
−0.6
−0.4
−0.2
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
* *
SWdiversity−mean
An occupied room is microbially distinct
vacuum!
filters!
Air filters
(a)
NMDS 1
NMDS2
Settling dishes
(c)
NMDS 1
NMDS2
occupied
unoccupied
Subject 1
Subject 2
Subject 3
(b) (d)
(e)
0.00
0.02
0.04
0.06
CanberraSimilarity
self other self other self other
All
Samples
Air
Filters
Settling
Dishes
Same results for airborne and settled particles
0.00
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
CanberraSimilarity
self other self other self other
All
Samples
Air
Filters
Settling
Dishes
Occupied
0.00
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
self other self other self other
All
Samples
Air
Filters
Settling
Dishes
Unoccupied
An occupant is microbially distinct
Occupied
Unoccupied
Air Filter (12 per treatment)
Air Flow Direction
Visqueen Wall
1m
0.15m
Settling Dish (6 per treatment)
Particle Counter (1 per treatment)
2.4 m
3.7m
2.4 m
2.9m
Supply Air Plenum
Test Chamber
Air Filter (6 per treatment)
Air Flow Direction
1m
Particle Counter (1 per treatment)
2.4 m
3.7m
2.4 m
2.9m
Supply Air Plenum
Test Chamber
8 different people
2 different air flow rates
1.5 hours each
Tried to keep each person comfortable
using only radiant heating
21
22
23
24
25
26
25
30
35
40
45
Rel Humidity (%)
S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8
Temp (C)
8 different occupants
1 ACH
1.5 hours
8 different occupants
1 ACH
1.5 hours
8 different occupants
1 ACH
1.5 hours
8 different occupants
1 ACH
1.5 hours
8 different occupants
3 ACH
1.5 hours
8 different occupants
3 ACH
1.5 hours
Air Filter (6 per treatment)
Air Flow Direction
1m
Particle Counter (1 per treatment)
2.4 m
3.7m
2.4 m
2.9m
Supply Air Plenum
Test Chamber
CanberraSimilarity
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
inside exhaust supply
self vs. self
self vs. other
1 Air Change / Hour
An occupant is microbially distinct … again
CanberraSimilarity
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
inside exhaust supply
1 Air Change / Hour
inside exhaust supply
self vs. self
self vs. other
3 ACH
But air flow rate influences identifiability
biobe.uoregon.edu

jfmeadow@gmail.com
@JamesMeadow

IndoorAir2014_BioBE