UNBIDDEN HOUSEGUESTS: A DISCUSSION OF MOULDS, BUILDINGS AND HEALTH Toronto

[Guest guest]

Centre for Environment, University of Toronto

WINTER/SPRING 2008 ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH SEMINAR SERIES

THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2008, 4:10 p.m.

Room 106, Health Sciences Centre, 155 College Str., at McCaul Str.

JAMES SCOTT, Assistant Professor, Occupational & Environmental Health, Public

Health Sciences, University of Toronto

(brief bio below)

" UNBIDDEN HOUSEGUESTS: A DISCUSSION OF MOULDS, BUILDINGS AND HEALTH "

(abstract below)

No registration or fee required; all are welcome.

Seminars are subject to change or cancellation.

Visit www.environment.utoronto.ca for schedule updates, abstracts and speakers'

bios.

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info and rates.

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ABSTRACT: It is well accepted that poor indoor environmental quality is an

important risk factor for the development

of asthma and allergic disease in children. It is thought that biological

exposures play a key role. Despite several, large,

well-powered cohort studies worldwide, the environmental risk factors of these

diseases remain poorly understood.

Several themes that have emerged from these studies suggest the importance of

home dampness and exposure to

dustmite allergen. However, the ecology of the indoor environment is complex,

and environmental conditions such

as dampness, and inquilines like mites do not occur in mutual isolation. This

session will examine the house as a

system, and attempt to describe the complexities of the biological composition

of the indoor environment.

We shall also consider housing characteristics and exposure surrogates that are

useful for indoor environment and

health studies. These approaches will form the core of the environmental

assessment tools that will be used in

a new, state-of-the-art Canadian birth cohort, -- the Canadian Healthy Infant

Longitudinal Development (CHILD)

study of 5,000 babies from birth to age 6 to understand the impact of

environment and gene-environment

interactions in asthma and allergy.

BRIEF BIO: Dr. is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of

Public Health Sciences and Pediatrics

at the University of Toronto. He specializes in the measurement and

characterization of biological hazards in the

workplace, community and environment. Dr. received an undergraduate degree

in phytopathology at the University

of Toronto, and a doctorate also from the University of Toronto in mycology

studying mould populations in houses

and their assocations with respiratory diseases in children. Dr. is an

internationally recognized authority on the

ecology and taxonomy of indoor environmental fungi, particularly members of the

mould genera Aspergillus and Penicillium.

Active research projects in Dr. 's laboratory include: 1) a landmark cohort

study of 5,000 Canadian children,

the " Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development " (CHILD) study,

investigating the early life environmental

determinants of asthma and allergic disease; 2) a companion project to the CHILD

study to ascertain the microbiological

sources of glucan and endotoxin in indoor and outdoor dust and air using

real-time PCR and denaturing gradient

gel electrophoresis (DGGE); 3) an investigation of the aerosol dispersion of

influenza virus in hospitals and long

term care homes using RT-PCR and size-selective air sampling; and 4) a

collaborative project with the Departments

of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at the University of Western Ontario

developing a solid state mould

biosensor as part of a larger project researching building envelope failures

leading to moisture and mould.

Several additional studies involving microorganisms of industrial and

environmental importance are on-going.

Dr. is also the CEO of Sporometrics Inc., a leading Canadian provider of

environmental microbiological

R & D and analytical services. He serves as a consultant in medical mycology to

Gamma-Dynacare

Medical Laboratories, and is the lead consultant on mushroom poisoning for the

Ontario Region Poison

Information Centre at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

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REMAINING SEMINARS IN THIS SERIES THIS TERM

THUR MARCH 20, 2008, 4:10 p.m.

JOHN EYLES, University Professor, School of Geography and Earth Sciences and

Past Director,

Institute of Environment and Health, McMaster University

“At the margins: will environmental health ever get its place in the sun?”

THUR MARCH 27, 2008, 4:10 p.m.

MURRAY FINKELSTEIN, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of

Toronto

“Air pollution and Parkinson's Disease in southern Ontario cities”

University of Toronto

centre.environment@... http://www.environment.utoronto.ca

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