# Molecular epidemiology of respiratory virus exposure in elementary schools

> **NIH NIH R21** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2024 · $212,882

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
There is a fundamental gap in understanding the extent to which the school environment contributes to
respiratory virus exposure, and less is known about potential environmental interventions to reduce exposure.
Our long-term goal is to create healthy indoor school environments for children. The overall objective of this
application is to identify modifiable factors of respiratory virus exposure in elementary schools in order to
reduce asthma morbidity. We will combine novel approaches to quantify and characterize the respiratory
virome in schools by leveraging the robust infrastructure of the School Inner-City Asthma Intervention Study
(SICAS-2, ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02291302), a randomized controlled trial conducted by our group of a
placebo-controlled classroom high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) cleaner intervention. We will test our
central hypothesis that schools are a source of high respiratory virus exposure that affects asthma morbidity
through the following specific aims: (1) To compare respiratory virus exposure in schools as compared to
homes by using a hybrid capture panel to recover genomes of detected respiratory viruses; (2) To identify
factors predicting respiratory virus exposure in schools including the efficacy of portable HEPA cleaners in
reducing classroom respiratory virus exposure; (3) To determine the association between the classroom
respiratory virome and asthma symptoms in elementary school children. The approach is innovative, because
we are simultaneously interrogating all major human respiratory viruses in the school environment. The
proposed research is significant, because it will identify the magnitude of exposure to respiratory viruses in
schools and potential environmental factors that can serve as future targets of intervention. If the HEPA
intervention can reduce respiratory virus exposure, it is an immediately actionable and practical intervention to
create safer indoor environments for elementary school children. Results from this proposal may be
generalizable to other public indoor settings.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10783808
- **Project number:** 5R21AI175965-02
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Peggy Sue Lai
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $212,882
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-02-10 → 2026-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10783808

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10783808, Molecular epidemiology of respiratory virus exposure in elementary schools (5R21AI175965-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-13 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10783808. Licensed CC0.

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