Menu
A+ A A-

SARS-CoV-2 in the Air: A Major Route of Transmission for the COVID-19 Diseases

Event Details:

  • Date:          Thursday 21 May 2020
  • Time:         Starts 16:00
  • Venue:       Streamed live via The Cyprus Institute YouTube and Facebook channels. Also available via GoToWebinar.
  • Speaker:    Prof. Jean Sciare, Director of the Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C), The Cyprus Institute

Webinar Graphic

Introducing The Cyprus Institute Webinar Series

Our new Webinar Series is an extension of our traditional Seminar and Colloquia Series aimed at promoting and disseminating scientific knowledge, by featuring prominent researchers from around the world presenting their views and addressing key questions.

Our inaugural speaker is Prof. Jean Sciare, Director of The Cyprus Institute’s Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C), who will be discussing the extremely important and highly relevant topic of airborne transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The Webinar will take place on Thursday, May 21st at 16:00 pm and will be live streamed via our YouTube and Facebook channels – see invitation below for more details. Please check The Cyprus Institute’s website for the calendar of events for upcoming webinar dates, times and topics.

 



SARS-CoV-2 in the Air: A Major Route of Transmission for the COVID-19 Diseases

Prof. Jean Sciare
Director of the Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C), The Cyprus Institute

Thursday, 21 May 2020, 16:00


The lecture will be in English and the live stream is open to the public.
Live streaming of the lecture will be available on The Cyprus Institute’s YouTube Channel and Facebook Channel. Alternatively, you can register and watch the webinar live via GoToWebinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
 
Live streaming is facilitated by the CySTEM project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 667942.
Images and/or recordings of our open public events may be used by The Cyprus Institute for dissemination purposes including print and digital media such as websites, press-releases, social media, and live streaming.


Abstract

Infected individual coughs, sneezes, or exhales (when speaking) produce a large quantity of virus-laden droplets and aerosols that can remain in the air for several hours. Every new scientific paper on airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 brings more evidence on the importance of this mechanism in the transmission of the COVID-19 diseases.

This webinar will provide a brief overview and synthesis of the most recent scientific studies published within the last few weeks on the characteristics of airborne SARS-CoV-2. Size distribution (between droplets and aerosols), viability, and atmospheric dispersion mechanisms will be addressed.

This presentation will also introduce our current research activities initiated on this topic in collaboration with the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, the Intensive Care Unit of the Nicosia General Hospital, and the Cyprus Civil Defence. The objective of this research (supported by the "CyI COVID-19 Internal Research Call") is to demonstrate the added value of a "bioaerosol network" in monitoring the presence of airborne SARS-CoV-2 within large indoor public areas to alert on the potential risk of local contamination, and therefore allows for immediate mitigation actions (shutdown and disinfection). If operated continuously, such bioaerosol networks could become an early warning system to geolocate the presence of a new infectious clusters, information which is strategic for combating large-scale spreading of the virus.

 

About the speaker

Prof Jean SciareProf. Jean Sciare is Director of the Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C) of the Cyprus Institute (CyI). His main expertise covers the experimental characterization of atmospheric aerosols; addressing issues related their impacts on air quality, health and climate. He received his PhD in atmospheric chemistry and physics from Paris VII University in 2000, with a dissertation on the “Biogeochemical cycle of dimethylsulfide in the Austral Ocean”.

Following a post-doctoral position at the Max Planck of Chemistry in Mainz (Germany) in 2000-2001 on the measurement of Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) in various environments, Jean Sciare obtained a full permanent position in CNRS at the end of 2001 at LSCE, and became CNRS Research Director in 2013, leading an atmospheric chemistry group of 20 people from mid-2012 to mid-2014. Since mid-2014, Jean Sciare is a full-time professor at The Cyprus Institute and is currently the Director of the Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C) of The Cyprus Institute.
Prof. Jean Sciare is currently leading the development of several major CyI research infrastructure such as the Cyprus Atmospheric Observatory (CAO) for long term observations of key atmospheric pollutants in Cyprus at, the Unmanned System Research Laboratory (USRL) for the development of an unparalleled fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles dedicated to atmospheric research studies, and the Facility for Chemical Analyses (FCA) for the speciation of trace species in ambient gases and aerosols.

Jean Sciare is author or co-author of more than 110 international refereed publications (H-index 34), and has more than 150 presentations at international conferences devoted to atmospheric chemistry and physics.




Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.     |     22 208 752

View all CyI events.

 

 

Additional Info

  • Date: Thursday 21 May 2020
  • Time: Starts: 16:00
  • Speaker: Prof. Jean Sciare
  • Co-organisers: Director of the Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C), The Cyprus Institute

Publications & Media