Sparking biochemical insights into wildfire smoke exposure
As wildfire seasons grow longer and more intense, understanding how smoke affects our bodies is more critical than ever. A recent story from the University of Washington's Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) highlights how innovative "at-home" science is helping researchers crack the code on our immune responses to smoke.
The "homeRNA" Kit UW Chemistry Professor Dr. Ashleigh Theberge teamed up with the EDGE Center (Interdisciplinary Center for Exposures, Diseases, Genomics & Environment) to test a breakthrough tool: the homeRNA kit. This device allows people to easily collect their own blood samples at home, stabilize them, and mail them to a lab—no clinic visit required.
Theberge’s team focused on Washington's Methow Valley, an area often hit hard by wildfire smoke. Over the summers of 2021 and 2022, volunteers used the kits to send in over 500 samples with the goal of measuring how RNA levels in white blood cells change before, during, and after smoke exposure. This study aims to give scientists a real-time look at how the human physiology and the immune system reacts to pollution.