Wastewater Based Surveillance
About
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nelson group turned its attention to monitoring wastewater for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as a strategy for monitoring infection levels in populations. Wastewater based surveillance (WBS) can be used to gather anonymous data on infection levels for a large population in a single sample. Compared to case data, WBS can be less biased because it is not dependent on individuals seeking testing, or having access to testing, including for people with asymptomatic infections. From 2020 to 2022, the Nelson group ran the COVID-WEB project, for which it received the Chancellor’s Public Service Award for Campus-Community Partnership in 2021.
Currently, our research is focused on developing improved methods for: processing wastewater samples to detect a wide range of human viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protozoan cysts with different properties; conducting genomic surveillance using targeted sequencing; detecting spillover events of influenza A virus, and; characterizing the decay of nucleic acid signals in wastewater.
Selected Publications
Schill, R., K.L. Nelson, S. Harris-Lovett, R.S. Kantor (2023) “The dynamic relationship between COVID-19 cases and SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations across time and space: considerations for model training data sets” Science of the Total Environment 871(162069). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162069
Harris-Lovett, S., K.L. Nelson, R. Kantor, and K.S. Korfmacher. (2022) “Wastewater surveillance to inform public health decision-making in residential institutions.” Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. doi: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000001636.
Kantor, R.S., H.D. Greenwald, L.C. Kennedy, A. Hinkle, S. Harris-Lovett, M. Metzger, M.M. Thornton, J.M. Paluba, and K.L. Nelson. (2022) “Operationalizing a Routine Wastewater Monitoring Laboratory for SARS-CoV-2.” PLOS Water 1(2): e0000007. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pwat.0000007.
Greenwald, H.D., L.C. Kennedy, A. Hinkle, O.N. Whitney, V.B. Fan, A. Crits-Christoph, S. Harris-Lovett…, K.L. Nelson (2021) “Tools for Interpretation of Wastewater SARS-CoV-2 Temporal and Spatial Trends Demonstrated with Data Collected in the San Francisco Bay Area.” Water Research X 12: 100111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wroa.2021.100111.
Harris-Lovett, S., K.L. Nelson, et al. (2021) “Wastewater Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 on College Campuses: Initial Efforts, Lessons Learned and Research Needs.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18(9):4455. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094455.
Whitney, O.N., L.C. Kennedy, V. Fan, A. Hinkle, R. Kantor, H. Greenwald, A. Crits-Christoph, B. Al-Shayeb, M. Chaplin, A. Maurer, R. Tjian, K.L. Nelson. (2021) “Sewage, Salt, Silica and SARS-CoV-2 (4S): An Economical Kit-Free Method for Direct Capture of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from Wastewater.” Environmental Science & Technology. 55(8):4880-4888. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c08129.
Kantor, R.S.*, K.L. Nelson*, H.D. Greenwald, and L.C. Kennedy. (2021) “Challenges in Measuring the Recovery of SARS-CoV-2 from Wastewater.” Environmental Science & Technology. 55(6): 3514–3519. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c08210. (*co-corresponding authors). Selected for ES&T 2021 Best Paper Award.
A. Crits-Christoph, R.S. Kantor, M.R. Olm, O.N. Whitney, B. Al-Shayeb, Y.C. Lou, A. Flamholz, L.C. Kennedy, H. Greenwald, A. Hinkle, J. Hetzel, S. Spitzer, J. Koble, A. Tan, F. Hyde, G. Schroth, S. Kuersten, J.F. Banfield, and K.L. Nelson. (2021) “Genome Sequencing of Sewage Detects Regionally Prevalent SARS-CoV-2 Variants.” mBio, 12(1): 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02703-20.