$435 Member/$505 Non-Member
Recorded in June 2020, this PDC offers IHs: 1) a microbiologist's perspective of indoor microbiology; 2) the pros and cons of a few common sampling and testing methods, including MSQPCR and ERMI; 3) the biology and control of Legionella bacteria; 4) the microbes (e.g., bacteria, mites, nematodes, and insects) that are in water-impacted indoor environments but often overlooked by IHs and labs; 5) the degradation and deterioration of economically important materials, such as fabrics, wood, and leathers, by microbes in damp and water-impacted environments and; 6) approaches available for retrospective assessment of water damage and fungal growth to determine whether fungal growth was pre-existing, or not.
Session outline
Build knowledge and skills necessary for interventions to reduce or eliminate adverse microbial exposures in the indoor environment. Topics covered include the following:
- Review of Current Practices
- Bacteria Sampling and Testing
- Legionella Bacteria
- Degradation and Deterioration Caused by Microbial Growth
- Mites, Nematodes, and Insects in Damp Indoor Spaces
- Retrospective Assessment of Water Damage and Fungal Growth
Course outcomes
Upon completion, students will be able to:
- Recognize the pros and cons of using conventional testing methods and new ones, such as PCR.
- Demonstrate that there is more than fungi and mold in water-impacted indoor environments.
- Evaluate how microbes may impact indoor air quality, occupant health, and the products we use.
Who will benefit
Industrial Hygienists need the knowledge and skills necessary for interventions to reduce or eliminate adverse microbial exposures in the indoor environment.
Prerequisites
Learners should have prior work or experience conducting indoor microbial investigations/assessments and familiarity with various sampling and testing methods.
Time to complete
Participants will have 90 days from the date of purchase to view the session recordings and submit the online evaluation for credit.
Questions?
Have questions or need additional information? Contact us.
Instructors
Ching-Yi Tsai, PhD.
Ms. Ching-Yi Tsai, Ph.D. received her BS in Biology from Tunghai University, MS degree in Agricultural Biotechnology from National Chung-Hsing University in Taiwan, and doctoral degree in Microbiology and Immunology from Dartmouth College. She did her postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Tsai started her research career on characterization and cloning the caleosin in oil bodies of plant seeds. She later focused her research interest on viruses at National Taiwan University Medical School. Her research projects include the studies of SARS virus and hepatitis B virus. Her study included the identification and whole genome sequences of SARS virus in patients in Taiwan. She set up the quantification and genotyping of hepatitis B virus in a single reaction by real-time PCR and melting curve analysis. Her doctoral research in Dartmouth College focused on viral-immunology. She studied immune-based therapies that control virus infections. Dr. Tsai continued her postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. She studied and characterized the biophysics mechanisms affecting the function of antigen chimericreceptors (CARs) and developing new chimeric receptors targeting different tumors. Dr. Tsai joined Prestige Enviromicrobiology in 2015 and focused on developing new DNA-based methods for the detection of important environmental microorganisms, such as Legionella, Enterococcus and Mycobacterium. She completed and received certification on a three-day workshop titled "Food and Indoor Fungi" at CBS-KNAW (the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) Fungal Biodiversity Centre, the Netherlands in 2016. She also completed and received certification on a workshop titled "Quality Assurance/Control Management in Microbiological Laboratory" at Taiwan Testing and Quality Assurance Society in 2018. Dr. Tsai is currently a member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association and the IEQ Committee for the American Industrial Hygiene Association.
Chin Yang Ph.D., Ph.D.
Chin S Yang, Ph.D., received his Biology degrees from Tunghai University in Taiwan and attended the State of University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York. He received his Ph.D. degree in 1984. He spent one year as the Anna Jenkins Postdoctoral Fellow in Mycology at the Plant Pathology Department of Cornell University. His research at Cornell led to publications of two monographs, which included two new genera and more than ten new species. He has been involved in indoor microbiology testing since 1970s. He founded P&K Microbiology, which was the first commercial lab to perform MSQPCR. He was a staff microbiologist with the US Public Health Service in Philadelphia. He has worked with several hospitals on monitoring for Aspergillus and other opportunistic fungi. He is currently the technical director and senior consulting scientist at Prestige EnviroMicrobiology in NJ. Dr. Yang has published many peer-reviewed scientific papers, scholarly reviews and book chapters, and technical articles. He is the author of three books. He was a contributor to two books published by AIHA Publications. He participated in the mold workshop leading to the first NYC mold guidelines and served on the panels on the review and revision of the guidelines, 2000 and 2008 editions. He was on the scientific advisory committee for the study of mold on human health and infant pulmonary hemorrhage/hemosiderosis at the Rainbow Children’s Hospital in Cleveland. He served on the AIHA task force, subcommittee and committee leading to the establishment of the Environmental-Microbiology-Proficiency-Analytical-Testing and Environmental Microbiology Laboratory Accreditation Program. He was a member on “Mold Contamination Affecting Indoor Environments: Health Effects, Prevention, and Remediation,” a Scientific Review Panel In Response to A.B. 284, Chapter 550 Statutes of 2001, State of California. (2002-2006).