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Nicole C Rockey

Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Wilkinson 213, Box 90287, Durham, NC 27708
121 Hudson Hall, Box 90287, Durham, NC 27708

Selected Publications


Mucin Colocalizes with Influenza Virus and Preserves Infectivity in Deposited Model Respiratory Droplets.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · February 2025 The stability of influenza virus in respiratory particles varies with relative humidity (RH) and protein content. This study investigated the decay, or loss of infectivity, of influenza A virus (IAV) in 1-μL respiratory droplets deposited on a surface with ... Full text Cite

Influenza virus infection and aerosol shedding kinetics in a controlled human infection model.

Journal Article Journal of virology · December 2024 Establishing effective mitigation strategies to reduce the spread of influenza virus requires an improved understanding of the mechanisms of transmission. We evaluated the use of a controlled human infection model using an H3N2 seasonal influenza virus to ... Full text Cite

Ventilation does not affect close-range transmission of influenza virus in a ferret playpen setup.

Journal Article Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · August 2024 Sustained community spread of influenza viruses relies on efficient person-to-person transmission. Current experimental transmission systems do not mimic environmental conditions (e.g., air exchange rates, flow patterns), host behaviors, or exposure durati ... Full text Cite

Linear Mixed Model of Virus Disinfection by Free Chlorine to Harmonize Data Collected across Broad Environmental Conditions.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · July 2024 Despite the critical importance of virus disinfection by chlorine, our fundamental understanding of the relative susceptibility of different viruses to chlorine and robust quantitative relationships between virus disinfection rate constants and environment ... Full text Cite

Potential pandemic risk of circulating swine H1N2 influenza viruses.

Journal Article Nature communications · June 2024 Influenza A viruses in swine have considerable genetic diversity and continue to pose a pandemic threat to humans due to a potential lack of population level immunity. Here we describe a pipeline to characterize and triage influenza viruses for their pande ... Full text Cite

Review of factors affecting virus inactivation in aerosols and droplets.

Journal Article Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · June 2024 The inactivation of viruses in aerosol particles (aerosols) and droplets depends on many factors, but the precise mechanisms of inactivation are not known. The system involves complex physical and biochemical interactions. We reviewed the literature to est ... Full text Cite

Seasonal influenza viruses decay more rapidly at intermediate humidity in droplets containing saliva compared to respiratory mucus.

Journal Article Applied and environmental microbiology · February 2024 Expulsions of virus-laden aerosols or droplets from the oral and nasal cavities of an infected host are an important source of onward respiratory virus transmission. However, the presence of infectious influenza virus in the oral cavity during infection ha ... Full text Cite

Detection of influenza virus and Streptococcus pneumoniae in air sampled from co-infected ferrets and analysis of their influence on pathogen stability.

Journal Article mSphere · August 2023 Secondary infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae has contributed significantly to morbidity and mortality during multiple influenza virus pandemics and remains a common threat today. During a concurrent infection, both pathogens can influence the t ... Full text Cite

Predictive Modeling of Virus Inactivation by UV.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · March 2021 UV254 disinfection strategies are commonly applied to inactivate pathogenic viruses in water, food, air, and on surfaces. There is a need for methods that rapidly predict the kinetics of virus inactivation by UV254, particularly for e ... Full text Cite

Validation of N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirator Decontamination Methods Available at a Large University Hospital.

Journal Article Open forum infectious diseases · February 2021 BackgroundDue to unprecedented shortages in N95 filtering facepiece respirators, healthcare systems have explored N95 reprocessing. No single, full-scale reprocessing publication has reported an evaluation including multiple viruses, bacteria, and ... Full text Cite

Impact of service line replacement on lead, cadmium, and other drinking water quality parameters in Flint, Michigan

Journal Article Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology · 2021 This study elucidates the short- and long-term impacts of lead service line replacement in Flint homes following a corrosion event. ... Full text Cite

Humidity and Deposition Solution Play a Critical Role in Virus Inactivation by Heat Treatment of N95 Respirators.

Journal Article mSphere · October 2020 Supply shortages of N95 respirators during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have motivated institutions to develop feasible and effective N95 respirator reuse strategies. In particular, heat decontamination is a treatment method that scales ... Full text Cite

UV Disinfection of Human Norovirus: Evaluating Infectivity Using a Genome-Wide PCR-Based Approach.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · March 2020 The removal and inactivation of infectious human norovirus (HuNoV) is a major focus in water purification, but the effectiveness of disinfection processes on norovirus is largely unknown owing to the lack of a readily available infectivity assay. In partic ... Full text Cite

The utility of flow cytometry for potable reuse.

Journal Article Current opinion in biotechnology · June 2019 Protecting public health from pathogens is critical when treating wastewater to drinking water standards (i.e., planned water reuse). Viruses are a principal concern, yet real-time monitoring strategies do not currently measure virus removal through reuse ... Full text Cite

Biofilms in Full-Scale Drinking Water Ozone Contactors Contribute Viable Bacteria to Ozonated Water.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · March 2018 Concentrations of viable microbial cells were monitored using culture-based and culture-independent methods across multichamber ozone contactors in a full-scale drinking water treatment plant. Membrane-intact and culturable cell concentrations in ozone con ... Full text Cite