New Research Project

The Harrison Lab has begun a new direction of research in collaboration with other faculty on campus. The group has joined a team of researchers investigating the impacts of thirdhand smoke on individuals.

Thirdhand smoke is something we’ve all experienced, but likely haven’t thought much about. Have you ever gone into a room/building and known right away that someone, at some time, had smoked in there? That’s thirdhand smoke (THS), the residue left behind from smoking – whereas secondhand smoke is the smoke in the air around a smoker.

The Harrison lab, as part of project funded by the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) is working to develop a personal, portable, disposable, device that can provide a semi-quantitative measure of THS residue on a surface. The idea is to develop a device that can be used by anyone to get a rough measure the THS expose. This tool, combined with more detailed analysis of THS compounds and their health risks, will provide individuals with the ability to easily assess the potential risk to themselves, and their family, when in a THS contaminated environment.

The students leading this undertaking are Jessica Torres, Cat Law, and Arrion Vivas.