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Microbial Exposure Research Branch

The Microbial Exposure Research Branch (MERB) of the Microbiological & Chemical Exposure Assessment Research Division (MCEARD), National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) operates within the Office of Research and Development (ORD). The Branch conducts research to identify and characterize emerging opportunistic pathogens in bioaerosols and in aquatic environments. The Branch identifies, purifies, and characterizes microbial toxins, allergens, and other microbial products, such as VOCs, and develops methods to measure exposures to these substances in indoor air, drinking water, and recreational water. The Branch develops cultural and molecular methods (gene probes) to detect and measure hazardous microorganisms in environmental matrices. Other methods developed by the Branch include molecular methods (DNA fingerprinting) to compare environmental organisms with human isolates and serological methods to measure exposures to microorganisms and their products. The serological methods utilize antibodies from sera, urine, or saliva as biomarkers of exposure. The Branch also carries out field studies to monitor human exposures to hazardous microbes and their products. These field studies combine environmental monitoring techniques with serological methods to simultaneously measure both exposures and human responses.

Microbiological and Chemical Exposure Research

EPA Microbiology | Exposure Research

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