06/18/2026
What does wildfire smoke do to us? As climate change fuels record wildfire seasons, UM researchers are adopting more precise ways to measure the smoke’s impact on our health.
The AirSAFE Lab, opening later this year, will be Canada’s first multidisciplinary research centre on the topic. Scientists will drill down on details like how smoke can, surprisingly, worsen as it moves away from the hot spot, picking up other pollutants. The facility will use actual human lung tissue.
“It’s far more complicated than what I first imagined when I got the idea to do this,” says Andrew Halayko [MSc/88, PhD/97], who is a Canada Research Chair in Lung Pathobiology and Treatment.
Read more about the research on UM Today: https://brnw.ch/21x3srf