STEM-In-Action Spring Scoop: Nature Breathe

It's time to check back in with our STEM-In-Action Grant teams! Don't know what a STEM-In-Action Grant is? No problem! The U.S. Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) awards STEM-In-Action Grants of up to $5,000 to eCYBERMISSION teams that wish to further develop and implement their projects in their communities. Typically, only five teams receive a STEM-In-Action grant, but this year ten teams took home the award. We're featuring team Nature Breathe this week, whose work creating a plant-based filtration method to replace synthetic HVAC filters is progressing by the day!

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Nature Breathe is an all-plant based filtration material meant to replace existing synthetically produced HVAC filters with materials made from invasive weeds. The experimental group consists of Delilah and Ben, with assistance from Ilana, and two new members who joined the crew to help out: River and Ariana, along with a crew of middle school students who are learning the scientific process through the expansion of experimentation on this project. Our main priority through the grant was to develop the filter from a very bare-bones idea to an actual material for public use in HVAC systems.

Since receiving the grant, we have expanded our research to include aerosol physics, by speaking with atmospheric chemists and physicists, reached out to patent lawyers, and have spoken to allergenists, to combat one of our largest issues with the plant materials; the natural allergens. We were also able to make progress in identifying many of the allergen proteins in our materials, and began to develop methods to combat the allergen proteins in the plant materials without destroying cohesion or filtration abilities of the actual materials. Our largest progress has been in comparing more natural materials against our previous victors and a large-scale comparison against existing filtration materials ranging from MERV4 to full HEPA filters, and to determine cohesion, filtration and absorption of the simulated viral nanoparticles through both vacuum and force. Our current goals are to isolate as many of the allergen proteins as possible and eliminate or at least significantly reduce the presence of these proteins, while maintaining cohesiveness, to structure these materials on a larger scale to actually be used in a real HVAC system and to determine overall best disposal methods. Our future goals are to be able to secure methods and means to produce the filters as cheaper replacements for HVAC systems everywhere. 

We have had several speed bumps in our efforts, the largest of which has been, ironically, COVID. The Delta and Omicron variants hit the team hard, including our expansions. Every member of the team has had to be quarantined during experimentation, luckily our fellow classmates picked up the torch and kept going with it, and our Team Advisor kept virtual relaying to the missing members. Our patent lawyers who are helping us pro bono, advised us that because we are classified as a biotechnology project, our provisional patent alone is going to cost $1000 and further patent filings will be more expensive. We also need to isolate the larger problem of the allergens completely before we think of going much further along the patent road. This problem still impacts us, and we are working on it. The allergen problem is being worked on by River and Ben, who are working with an allergenist out of the University of Budapest, and a phytochemist out of University of Iowa to come up with a cost-efficient measure to isolate and neutralize the allergy proteins, and we are considering potentially open sourcing the final measure or crowdfunding the actual patent. We are diverting our funds towards concentrating on the allergen removal process which, while trying to be cost efficient, is still costing, so that the product is potentially tastier for investors. The same universities we are consulting with for research mentorship are also expressing interest in a more honed product.

Our publicity has been limited due to the sensitivity of the experiment content and IP, and limited so far to competitions. Ben and River have been doing the primary representation, though Ben and Delilah got 2nd place in the Sustainability Solutions Science Fair through Arizona State University. Ben and River competed in the Virtual Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. Once we are a little more secure in a finalized product, we are hoping to get more publicity. 

We hope to be able to isolate the protein allergens without damaging the filtration abilities of the materials so that we can make a larger scale filter for testing and use in an actual HVAC system, then integrating our filter production within the community to help reduce the invasive weed species in the area and produce a home-based industry that has global potential. The need for better ventilation solutions are needed now more than ever, as are more community based and home-grown economical solutions, which is a concept that we are very excited to explore. 

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The collaborative nature of Nature Breathe's process, expanding to include more students as well as consulting STEM professionals, is what eCYBERMISSION is all about! Their forward-thinking and level of professionalism makes us sure that they'll achieve their goals and more. Awesome job, team!

Faith Benner
AEOP Senior Communications and Marketing Specialist