Ma Jiahui， Shen Fangxia
School of Energy and Power Engineering， Beihang University， Beijing 100191， China
Abstract
Significance The objective of this review is to trace the development of bioaerosol research in China and summarize major advances in target components， analytical methods， emission sources and exposure settings， atmospheric processes， biological activity， and health-risk assessment. Methodological and knowledge gaps that hinder comparisons among studies， mechanistic interpretation， and quantitative risk assessment are also identified. Particular attention is given to the progression from culture-based air hygiene surveys to integrated analyses of community composition， activity， function， transport， exposure， and effects.
Progress Relevant Chinese- and English-language publications from 1986 to 2026 are retrieved from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure and the Web of Science Core Collection. Earlier landmark papers are also examined to provide historical context. Keyword co-occurrence networks are generated， and annual publication output and the global share of publications authored by Chinese researchers are analyzed. The literature is classified by historical stage， biological target， sampling and analytical method， environmental setting， atmospheric process， and health-related endpoint. Culture-based enumeration， quantitative polymerase chain reaction （qPCR）， droplet digital polymerase chain reaction （ddPCR）， high-throughput amplicon sequencing， shotgun metagenomics， fluorescence-based online monitoring， viability assays， ribosomal RNA-based analysis， and emerging single-cell activity measurements are compared in terms of information content and major limitations. Evidence from ambient air， hospitals， schools， public transport， wastewater and solid waste treatment facilities， livestock farms， haze episodes， and dust transport is synthesized. Limitations related to low-biomass sampling， contamination control， viability determination， functional verification， exposure quantification， and biological effect assessment are evaluated.
Conclusions and Prospects Bioaerosol research in China now forms a multidisciplinary field integrating air quality， environmental microbiology， atmospheric processes， and public health. Standardized， target-specific protocols for sampling， sample recovery， storage， and extraction are required， together with appropriate blank controls and recovery checks for low-biomass matrices. Minimum reporting requirements for sampler performance， sampling parameters， recovery efficiency， storage conditions， and absolute abundance are also needed to improve international comparability. Community composition， cellular activity， functional expression， inhaled dose， respiratory deposition， and biological effects need to be assessed within an integrated analytical framework. An integrated strategy is required in which high-efficiency enrichment， online or near-real-time sensing， on-site nucleic acid detection， multi-omics， trajectory and source analysis， exposure modeling， and toxicological or immunological verification are combined. These advances facilitate a transition from descriptive detection and hazard identification to mechanistic interpretation， quantitative risk assessment， early warning， and targeted prevention and control.
Keywords： bioaerosol； airborne microorganism； sampling and detection technique； atmospheric pollution process； health risk
Get Citation: Ma Jiahui， Shen Fangxia. From beginnings to frontiers： advances and prospects in bioaerosol research in China［J］. China Powder Science and Technology， 2027， 33（2）： 1-14.
Received：2026-07-14， Revised： 2026-07-27， Online： 2026-09-10。
Funding： The research was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2023YFC3708201), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42375113), the Beijing Natural Science Foundation-Xiaomi Innovation Joint Fund (Grant Nos. L253028 & L233014), and the Beijing Nova Program (Grant No. 20250484768).
CLC No.: TB4；X51
Type Code: A
Serial No.: 1008-5548（2027）02-0001-14
