The air we breathe is far from pure. Mold, bacteria, viruses, toxins, particles from living organisms: a host of bioaerosols interfere with each of our breaths. “The problems associated with bioaerosols call upon very different and complementary disciplines,” explains Caroline Duchaine, professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Bioinformatics at Laval University. Internationally recognized for her work in the field, the holder of the Canada Research Chair in Bioaerosols has dedicated her career to connecting different areas of expertise to better characterize and study these particles of biological origin. Obtaining the Acfas Jacques-Rousseau prize, which highlights work establishing innovative bridges between different disciplines, therefore particularly touches her.
All you can eat buffet
It was after a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and a master’s degree in physiology and endocrinology that Caroline Duchaine began to become interested in bioaerosols. “A doctor was looking for a student for a project on dairy farms,” says the woman who was hesitant about training in veterinary medicine at the time. As part of this doctorate, she will study the impact on the respiratory system of agricultural workers of a bacteria-based product sprayed on farms to treat hay against mold. “I found it fascinating,” she remembers.
From then on, she surrounded herself with specialists from various backgrounds and participated in the establishment of the first Canadian university laboratory dedicated to the analysis of bioaerosols, attached to the Laval Hospital Research Center (today the Research Center from the University Institute of Cardiology and Pneumology of Quebec). “My director gave me complete freedom,” underlines the researcher.
After two postdoctoral positions (one at the University of Montreal and the other at the University of Iowa), Caroline Duchaine settled down for good at Laval University, where she focused on a host of subjects. “In my field, everything had to be done. I was lucky to have access to the all-you-can-eat research buffet,” she rejoices. To solve problems related to exposure to bioaerosols in a hardwood flooring factory or to mold after the Saguenay floods, for example, engineering, biology, medicine and public health had to be brought into focus. contribution.
Through some 180 laboratory and field research projects carried out over the years, Caroline Duchaine and her colleagues have advanced knowledge on the composition of air contaminants, the behavior of aerosols, as well as their impact. on public, animal and human health. “We quickly became the most active laboratory in the world in the field. It’s a big playing field.”
In the spotlight of COVID
In 2015, Caroline Duchaine published a study on the transmission of gastroenteritis by air, which caused a stir and transformed practices in hospitals.
But it was the COVID-19 pandemic that made his work (even more) visible. “It was a little crazy,” she remembers. Already present in hospitals, his team was then the only one in the province that could take air samples to study the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
It will help break down silos and change the understanding of airborne viral transmission among infectious disease specialists. “They only recognized a handful of airborne diseases: tuberculosis, chickenpox, influenza, measles… Apart from that, this mode of transmission was not taken into consideration,” explains she said. A preconceived idea in the field then separated droplets (diameter greater than 5 microns) from smaller particles, aerosols, involved in the spread of these few diseases. “But we know that larger particles can also have an impact, especially since the COVID virus does not need to go to the bottom of the lung to cause the disease, it can lodge in the nose , the throat,” she continues.
His work has notably helped to assess the risk of contamination of healthcare personnel during the pandemic, and to break down some dogmas, both among specialists and in the media. “It opened minds that the air could also be a route of transmission, even if this is not systematically the case,” she summarizes. With the pandemic, the general public’s interest in the issue of bioaerosols has also skyrocketed: “I had made maybe 25 media appearances in my career, and all of a sudden, I had 200 requests! » she confides.
Today, Caroline Duchaine continues her exploration; his new research project focuses on the H5N1 virus in dairy farms. The researcher will also closely monitor the impact of climate change on bioaerosols, in particular the resistance of Nordic houses to mold, or the issues linked to animal cooling systems on farms. “These water-based systems can be contaminated with bacteria dangerous to human health, such as Legionnaires’ disease,” she says.
This eternally curious person is therefore not short of ideas for what comes next. “I always loved school; I still feel like a student, I’m having so much fun! This academic freedom, this ability to do what you want, is extremely stimulating,” she concludes.
This text is produced in partnership with Acfas.
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