MIST

The airborne transmission of pathogens has a great impact on our health and economy. To address this, indoor environments need better air quality control to reduce infection rates. The MIST project brings together medical, physics, and engineering experts to study virus transmission, airborne droplet spread, and ventilation to develop mitigation technologies (based on ventilation and air cleaning) and assessment methodologies to test their efficiency. These outputs will be translated into practical recommendations to support overall indoor health, which in turn will improve our pandemic readiness. 

Since the global impact of COVID-19, we have become acutely aware of the risks related to airborne diseases. Virologists, epidemiologists, fluid mechanics experts, and engineers are collaborating in the MIST (MItigation STrategies for Airborne Infection Control) project to deepen our understanding and prevent the transmission of airborne viruses, infectious diseases and harmful agents, with a particular focus on addressing COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2). The MIST brought together a diverse range of expertise, including fluid dynamics, physics, molecular biology, medicine, and engineering, and partnerships with 28 companies. The project aims to develop mitigation strategies for controlling airborne infections. To achieve this goal, the following steps will be taken: 

i) Advancing fundamental knowledge on virus infectivity, the spread of airborne droplets, and the effectiveness of ventilation.
ii) Developing mitigation technologies and evaluating methodologies to determine their efficacy.
iii) Disseminating program outputs through publicly available recommendations and policy guidelines. 

The outcomes of this research will be translated into practical recommendations for implementing measures in the most efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable manner across various environments, including homes, hospitals, schools, and public transportation.