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Clearing the Air: TxAIRE Institute Searches for Health Solutions
Could the air you breathe in your
own home make you sick? Could it cause
allergies and even asthma in your
children? Dr. Jan Sundell has made it his
life’s work to find out.
And with the launch of UT Tyler’s new
Texas Allergy, Indoor Environment and
Energy Institute, he is continuing his
research on the quality and impact of
indoor air right here in Texas.
The Texas Emerging Technology Fund
awarded UT Tyler with a $3.75 million
grant to establish TxAIRE, the first collaborative
research institute of its kind in the
entire United States. Dr. Sundell, a
research professor of engineering and a
leading international researcher on indoor
air, is executive director of TxAIRE.
“Today, almost half of our children have
or have had some type of allergy,” Dr.
Sundell said. According to the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention, asthma
cases in the U.S. have doubled in the
previous two decades. About 5 percent of
the U.S. population has asthma, with the
highest proportion among children ages
5 to 14.
“Asthma and allergy cases are increasing,”
Dr. Sundell said. “Why? Is it because of
the air we breathe in buildings? I’ve been
studying this in Sweden, Bulgaria, Taiwan,
Singapore, Denmark and now Texas.”
Not only will research findings benefit the
health of children and families, it will also
provide a boost for local and regional
industry. TxAIRE research could lead to
improvements in filtration devices and
sensors used in the operation of residential
heating, ventilation and air-conditioning
systems.
State Sen. Kevin Eltife said, “The TxAIRE
institute is a great project for UT Tyler and
all of East Texas. Their innovative research
on air quality will hopefully improve our
homes and bring in renowned specialists
from all over the country. And with UT
Tyler as the leading institution in this
project, it is especially meaningful for
them. I am proud of their efforts.”
Dr. James Nelson, UT Tyler College of
Engineering and Computer Science dean,
said the institute will offer partnership
opportunities between UT Tyler and local
industry to implement research findings.
UT Tyler’s academic partners in TxAIRE
are The University of Texas Health
Science Center at Tyler, The University of
Texas at Dallas and The International
Center for Indoor Environment and
Energy at theTechnical University of Denmark.
“We think the TxAIRE project will put
Tyler on the map nationally and internationally
as the center for indoor air quality
research and product development,” said
Tom Mullins, president of the Tyler
Economic Development Council. “We
expect it to have a positive long term
impact on the local and regional economy.”
While the institute offers fresh and
exciting opportunities for UT Tyler and
the region, the study of indoor air quality
is nothing new to Dr. Sundell.
Quest for Answers
Dr. Sundell began asking questions about
the quality of indoor air more than 20
years ago in Sweden, where he was responsible
for creating and enforcing building
codes. “I’m an engineer to begin with,”
Dr. Sundell said. “But I couldn’t get any
answers from science (about what those
codes should be) …”
He wanted answers to questions like how
much ventilation is needed in a bedroom.
Are people getting sick because of the air
in buildings? What is the impact of
chemicals from new structures?
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World-renowned researcher Dr. Jan Sundell is leading the effort to study indoor air quality as executive director of TxAIRE. |
“There is much more research about outdoor
air, but little about indoor air,” Dr.
Sundell said. “So I started doing science
myself.” Dr. Sundell earned a doctorate
degree in medicine and began searching for
the correlation between health and buildings.
In his research, Dr. Sundell has found
some answers. “In looking at what people
are exposed to in the home, especially in
the bedroom, we have found in Sweden
and Bulgaria a strong association to plastic,
PBC flooring. It’s just one of many other
factors. New chemicals in the environment
may be one of the causes. These are all
manmade products … and the children
are getting sick.”
There are no studies in the U.S. of this kind --
not for getting a deeper understanding of the
home environment. Dr. Sundell said when
the research yields more information about
housing, they can offer recommendations
for better air quality.
How it Works
Researchers start with a questionnaire. “We’ll
send out a questionnaire to parents in Tyler,
asking about housing, health of children and
family, ”Dr. Sundell said. “In Sweden, we had
an 80 percent response. In Bulgaria, it was
tough to get even 35 percent. Will parents
respond to the questionnaire and will they let
us into their homes to make an investigation?
We’ll see.”
Dr. Sundell said the next level of research is
based on the received responses. “We make a
case for a control study. We study the homes
of sick children and healthy children and look
for differences.
“Eventually, we will actually build homes close
to campus to try out our ideas about healthy
housing ... a laboratory test. For instance, we’ll
see if filters are any good. Today, there is a
huge market for filters in the U.S.,” he said.
The institute will eventually have a living
laboratory, Dr. Nelson said. “We will build a
typical single family residence and have a
family live there for an extended period of
time to really look at the health benefits
of ideas. We will be able to change out
components of the house to see the impact of
various aspects.”
Problems Unique to Texas, U.S.?
It is important to get the picture of how
people live for the health of children,
Dr. Sundell said. “If we look at homes in
Sweden and Texas, they are very different,
of course, with climate differences.”
Another difference between Sweden and the
U.S. is flooring. “Carpets are unknown in
Sweden,” Dr. Sundell said. “They had carpet
30 years ago, but not now. We don’t know if
carpets are a problem or not.”
Dampness and mold are worldwide
problems. In Bulgaria, 35 percent of children
have visible mold in their rooms. In Sweden,
there is almost no visible mold. Mold is
more in the construction. “But we do not yet
know what the mold situation is in Texas,”
said Dr. Sundell.
Once the system is in place, the institute will
continue focusing on additional studies. “For
example, we will follow women who are
pregnant from about week eight to 10 in
order to map the progress of pregnancy … an
important time for the baby (in relation to
indoor air quality),’’ he said.
“For human beings, the most important time
is pregnancy and the first year of life … it is
when we are developing as a human life.
Most of that time is spent indoors and in the
bedroom. In other countries, the mother is
out walking the baby. But in the U.S., babies
stay indoors or in the car.”
The research of TxAIRE will be both medical
and technical — a close collaboration
between engineering and medicine.
“We will collaborate with industry through
quite a few companies that we hope will get
involved,” Dr. Sundell said. “There may be a
need for new products and innovation, but
you first have to know the problems.”
Dr. Nelson said the institute will begin with
the questionnaires this spring and will involve
students in every aspect of the research. One
or two of the “family test homes” will be
constructed by the end of the year, with three
total structures planned.
“This will be a fully sustainable center,” Dr.
Nelson said. “We are trying to build it into a
broad, internationally collaborative institute.”
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