BREATHE Program · Daycares

Where healthy lungs begin.

BRAVE is developing intelligent air systems for the earliest learning environments — the childcare centers where immune systems are forming and where airborne exposures can set the course for a lifetime of respiratory health.

Led by Virginia Tech · ARPA-H BREATHE Program

The BRAVE Solution

The Challenge

The first years of life are when the immune system is shaped — and indoor air is doing the shaping.

Children in daycare spend hours each day in small, shared, often poorly ventilated spaces — breathing air that circulates continuously through rooms filled with allergens, mold spores, viruses, and bacteria.

The exposures children encounter in their earliest years directly shape their immune development. Poorly managed indoor air in childcare settings is linked to the onset of asthma and allergic rhinitis — chronic conditions that can persist for life.

More than 12 million American children under five are in childcare or preschool settings. BRAVE is building the infrastructure to protect them.

1 in 12 American children has asthma

Asthma is the most common serious chronic illness in children — and indoor air quality is a primary driver of onset and exacerbation.

Early exposure shapes lifelong immune trajectories

Research links early childhood exposure to allergens, molds, and other types of aerosols to allergic sensitization and the development of chronic respiratory disease.

The Approach

Biosensors that see what the eye cannot. Controls that act before symptoms do.

Recognition element-based biosensing

BRAVE is developing a new biosensor that enables real-time, ultrasensitive detection of specific pathogens and allergens using recognition element-based technology — engineered to detect the targets that matter most in early childhood settings.

Respiratory risk software

Software that translates data from the biosensor, building systems, community conditions, and environmental context into real-time respiratory risk assessments — specific to the population and the building.

Automated building interventions

Intervention tools that respond automatically to risk levels — adjusting ventilation, activating filtration, and lowering bioaerosol concentrations before children or staff are exposed.

Real-Time Monitoring of the Air We Share

The Agilus® Healthy Air (AHA) Monitor is at the core of the BRAVE Solution.

Video designed by Gavin Stevenson-Compton, with creative direction by Joshin Kumar.

Program Footprint

Where BRAVE is active

BRAVE is demonstrating technology across daycare and early education settings, with a multidisciplinary team spanning eleven universities and industry partners.

Performer organizations

California Connecticut Georgia Michigan Missouri Texas Virginia

Childcare Center Locations

California Michigan North Carolina

Performer states include institutions with research and technology development roles. Childcare Center Locations are where BRAVE systems are being deployed and validated.

Team Organizations

Eleven institutions. One integrated platform.

Virginia Tech Emory University University of California, Davis University of Michigan University of Virginia Washington University in St. Louis Yale University Johnson Controls International Signature Science Agilus Detection National Childcare Provider
Team

Led by Virginia Tech

Linsey Marr
Principal Investigator

Linsey Marr, Ph.D.

University Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. One of the world's leading experts in airborne transmission of viruses and aerosol science.

Listen: Research Curious Conversations podcast ↗
Rajan Chakrabarty
TA1 Lead · Biosensing

Rajan Chakrabarty, Ph.D.

Harold D. Jolley Professor of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. Leading the bioaerosol sensor development task area.

Madhav Marathe
TA2 Lead · Risk Assessment

Madhav Marathe, Ph.D.

Director of the Biocomplexity Institute and Professor of Computer Science at the University of Virginia. Leading the intelligent risk assessment software task area.

Christopher Cappa
TA3 Lead · Building Systems

Christopher Cappa, Ph.D.

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Davis. Leading the building control and intervention task area.

Downloads

Posters providing an overview for BRAVE, TA1: BRAVE Biosensors, TA2: BRAVE Model, and TA3: BRAVE Buildings.

BRAVE Overview PDF · 497 KB BRAVE TA1 PDF · 525 KB BRAVE TA2 PDF · 4.8 MB BRAVE TA3 PDF · 3.4 MB
In the News

Coverage of BRAVE

Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech to Lead Clean Indoor Air Research Under ARPA-H Contract

Oct 2025 · VT News announcement of the BRAVE award

WashU McKelvey

WashU to Lead Bioaerosol Sensor Development on Up to $40 Million Federal Contract to Revolutionize Clean Indoor Air

WashU McKelvey School of Engineering announcement of Rajan Chakrabarty's role on BRAVE

UVA Biocomplexity Institute

UVA Researchers Lead Development of Smart Risk Assessment Software to Improve Indoor Air Quality and Public Health

University of Virginia Biocomplexity Institute on Madhav Marathe's BRAVE role

Federal Press

Federal Contract for Up to $40 Million Fuels Research to Revolutionize Clean Indoor Air and Defend Against Next Pandemic

Coverage of the BRAVE federal contract award

U-M Civil & Environmental

Safer Indoor Air: U-M to Help Develop Indoor Air Quality Monitoring System with VA Tech

University of Michigan Civil and Environmental Engineering on their BRAVE role

Signature Science

Signature Science Membership on ARPA-H BREATHE Program Team Announced

Signature Science announcement of their role on the BRAVE team

VT Research

Podcast: Airborne Pathogen Detection and Mitigation with Linsey Marr

Mar 2026 · Research Curious Conversations with PI Linsey Marr, Ph.D.

ARPA-H

ARPA-H BRAVE Award Page

Official ARPA-H program overview for the BRAVE team

Interested in learning more?

BRAVE is building the scientific foundation for clear air systems in buildings. If you're interested in learning more, we'd love to hear from you.

BRAVE@vt.edu