Characterization of the workplace chemical exposome using untargeted LC-MS/MS: a case study

Abstract

Western people now spend close to 90% of their time indoors, one-quarter of which occurs at their place of employment. As such, interactions between employees and the workplace built environment have significant potential impact on employee health and safety. However, the range of workers’ daily chemical exposures is still poorly understood. Likewise, the influence of workers themselves and of worker behavior on the chemical composition of the workplace is still unknown. In this case study, we used untargeted liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to compare the chemical signatures of three different types of workplaces: scientific research buildings, office buildings, and one mixed-purpose building. Our results identified differential signatures of public building surfaces based on building purpose, sampling location and surface materials. Overall, these results are helping define the influence of human behavior on the workplace chemical environment and identify the chemical hazards to which people are exposed throughout their workday.HighlightsImplementation of untargeted liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to study workplace chemical exposures.Shared chemical signatures were identified based on building purpose.Differential chemical signatures were identified based on surface material and sampling location.Annotated molecules include pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, food chemicals, constituents of paints and stains, and cleaning products.

Vertical Stratification in Urban Green Space Aerobiomes

“…Indeed, exposure to environmental microbes is thought to prime and "educate" the immune system (Belkaid and Hand 2014;Hanski 2014;Mincham et al 2020) particularly in early life, and a recent mouse study suggests that exposure to environmental microbes such as the butyrate-producer Kineothrix alysoides could also have anxiolytic (anxiety-reducing) effects (Liddicoat et al 2019). The vertical stratification concept could also be important for exposome researchers, who investigate the types and methods of exposures to both endogenous and exogenous chemical composites (including microbes and their biological compounds across the life course) (Escher et al 2017;Daiber et al 2019;McCall et al 2019). The presence of vertical stratification implies that the potential for exposure to environmental microbial diversity may differ throughout the human life course due to age and gender differences in height, activity types, and methods of motion.…”

Optimized extraction method enables quantitative analysis of surface metabolite recovery for exposomics and behavioral studies

“…Occupational health studies also usually focus on the workers directly handling these known risk agents. However, our prior work has shown traces of laboratory chemicals outside of the research space 2a and shared chemical signatures for research and mixed-use buildings compared to single-use office buildings 3 , indicating that all building occupants or visitors may be at risk of exposures, and not just those handling the hazardous chemicals. Thus, there is a need to quantitatively assess chemical recovery from surfaces, to pave the way for improved analyses of chemical skin exposure risks.…”