Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) uses wastewater to detect and quantify biomarkers, including human viral pathogens, excreted in feces and urine. WBE provides a population-level approach to monitoring and offers many benefits over traditional epidemiological surveillance, including cost-effectiveness, real-time data collection, and unbiased demographic sampling.

The Wigginton-Eisenberg lab (WEL) is a collaboration between the Wigginton research group in the College of Engineering and the Eisenberg research group in the School of Public Health. The collaboration is funded by the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services (MDHHS) and other sources to conduct wastewater testing using samples from sites across Michigan. We track levels of multiple pathogens, including influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2, RSV, Norovirus, Rotavirus, and adenoviruses. Our laboratories also work on methods for detecting emerging or re-emerging pathogens, such as Mpox, Measles, H5 Influenza, and Candia auris. 

To detect and quantify viral load in samples, nucleic acids are extracted from wastewater influent and primary settled solids and then viral nucleic acids are quantified with digital droplet PCR. Much of our data are uploaded regularly to our public dashboard. Data for some of our targets are also uploaded to the CDC National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) dashboard, enabling comparisons and trends across the US. 

Beyond routine monitoring and method development, our group conducts research aimed at advancing wastewater-based epidemiology as a rigorous public health tool. Our collaborative projects investigate fecal shedding dynamics of viral pathogens and integrate these data into models that improve interpretation of wastewater signals and infectious disease trends. We participate in MI-COM, a CDC-funded forecasting and outbreak analytics initiative, and examine the mechanistic fate of virus particles and their associated nucleic acid signals in wastewater matrices, including their persistence and partitioning between liquid and solid phases. In parallel, we develop sensitive, rapid, and multiplexed detection methods to expand the accuracy, scalability, and public health utility of WBE.