Gediminas “Gedi” Mainelis , Ph.D.

Professor Rutgers University, School of Environmental and Biological SciencesEOHSI – Environmental and Population Health Bio-Sciences
Work Phone: 848-932-5712
Photo of Gediminas “Gedi” Mainelis Ph.D.

Biography

Research Areas

  • Development of aerosol/bioaerosol sampling, control, and generation methods
  • Investigation of aerosol and bioaerosol monitors’ performance
  • Integration of bioaerosol sampling tools with advanced microbiological analysis techniques Aerosol exposure assessment
    Indoor air quality
  • Exposure and health effects of nanoparticles

Research Highlights

  • Investigated the potential release of particles from nanotechnology-based consumer products and showed that their use could result in inhalation exposures to nanoparticles and their agglomerates
  • Developed a novel electrostatics-based collector for biological aerosols where airborne particles could be captured into very small amounts of liquid (5-40 microliters) thus allowing to measure low concentrations of airborne microorganisms.
  • Investigated indoor exposures of young children to airborne contaminants using a novel robotic sampling platform. The research shows that the current exposure assessment methods using stationary samplers may underestimate exposures by a factor of 3.

Scholarly Activities

  • Co-Chair of the “Health-Related Aerosol Working Group” of the American Association for Aerosol Research for 2010-2011.
  • Member, Aerosol Technology Committee, American Industrial Hygiene Association.
  • Member, Stakeholders’ Panel on Agent Detection Assays (SPADA), organized by AOAC International, contracted by the Department of Homeland Security’s Chemical/Biological Research and Development Section (CBRDS)
  • Reviewer for scholarly journals

Recent Publications

  1. He, R, McAtee, J, Mainelis, G. Potential exposure of adults and children to particles from resuspended nano-enabled consumer sprays. Sci Total Environ. 2024;924 :171459. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171459. PubMed PMID:38438041
  2. Desai, G, Ramachandran, G, Goldman, E, Esposito, W, Galione, A, Lal, A, Choueiri, TK, Fay, A, Jordan, W, Schaffner, DW et al.. Efficacy of Grignard Pure to Inactivate Airborne Phage MS2, a Common SARS-CoV-2 Surrogate. Environ Sci Technol. 2023;57 (10):4231-4240. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c08632. PubMed PMID:36853925 PubMed Central PMC10001433
  3. He, R, Zhang, J, Mainelis, G. Resuspension of particles deposited by nano-enabled consumer sprays: The role of product type, flooring material, and resuspension force. Indoor Air. 2022;32 (11):e13157. doi: 10.1111/ina.13157. PubMed PMID:36437654 PubMed Central PMC9827835
  4. Dillon, KP, Krumins, V, Deshpande, A, Kerkhof, LJ, Mainelis, G, Fennell, DE. Characterization and DNA Stable-Isotope Probing of Methanotrophic Bioaerosols. Microbiol Spectr. 2022;10 (6):e0342122. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.03421-22. PubMed PMID:36409096 PubMed Central PMC9769660
  5. Manibusan, S, Mainelis, G. Passive Bioaerosol Samplers: A Complementary Tool for Bioaerosol Research. A Review. J Aerosol Sci. 2022;163 :. doi: 10.1016/j.jaerosci.2022.105992. PubMed PMID:36386279 PubMed Central PMC9648171
  6. Goldman, E, Choueiri, TK, Mainelis, G, Ramachandran, G, Schaffner, DW. Triethylene Glycol Can Be Predeployed as a Safe Virus-Killing Indoor Air Treatment. J Infect Dis. 2022;226 (11):2040-2041. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiac394. PubMed PMID:36177834
  7. Myers, NT, Laumbach, RJ, Black, KG, Ohman-Strickland, P, Alimokhtari, S, Legard, A, De Resende, A, Calderón, L, Lu, FT, Mainelis, G et al.. Portable air cleaners and residential exposure to SARS-CoV-2 aerosols: A real-world study. Indoor Air. 2022;32 (4):e13029. doi: 10.1111/ina.13029. PubMed PMID:35481935 PubMed Central PMC9111720
  8. Grogan, SNCM, Han, TT, Mainelis, G. Development and initial testing of an active low-power, ferroelectric film-based bioaerosol sampler. Aerosol Sci Technol. 2022;56 (12):1132-1145. doi: 10.1080/02786826.2022.2128985. PubMed PMID:37168518 PubMed Central PMC10168024
  9. Laumbach, RJ, Mainelis, G, Black, KG, Myers, NT, Ohman-Strickland, P, Alimokhtari, S, Hastings, S, Legard, A, de Resende, A, Calderón, L et al.. Presence of SARS-CoV-2 Aerosol in Residences of Adults with COVID-19. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2022;19 (2):338-341. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202107-847RL. PubMed PMID:34762562 PubMed Central PMC8867362
  10. Myers, NT, Han, TT, Li, ML, Brewer, G, Harper, M, Mainelis, G. Impact of sampling and storage stress on the recovery of airborne SARS-CoV-2 virus surrogate captured by filtration. J Occup Environ Hyg. 2021;18 (9):461-475. doi: 10.1080/15459624.2021.1948047. PubMed PMID:34197274 PubMed Central PMC9563239
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