Estimation of Nano/Microplastic Pollution in Humans Through High-Resolution, High-Throughput Spectroscopy

Team: Kara Meister, Jennifer Dionne, Thomas Baer, and Manu Prakash

Nano/microplastics (NMPs) pose significant health risks, but current detection methods are expensive and complex, hindering large-scale monitoring. This project introduces a cost-effective, high-resolution, highly sensitive, and high-throughput detection method for NMPs in human tissues and fluids, suitable for large populations. It enables the development of dose metrics and monitoring of NMPs in human-relevant sources like water and food, critical for biomonitoring policies. The aspirational goal is to deploy three microscopes for international longitudinal studies involving 100 patients in California, Africa, and India, linking NMP exposure to health metrics.