Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) uses wastewater to determine the presence and quantity of biomarkers, including human viral pathogens, that are being excreted in feces and urine. WBE provides a population-level approach for monitoring, and has many benefits compared to traditional surveillance, including cost-effectiveness, real time data collection, and unbiased demographic sampling.

Our team helps measure SARS-CoV2 and human norovirus levels for 5 municipalities in Southeast Michigan, including Ann Arbor, Flint, Jackson, Tecumseh, and Ypsilanti, as part of the MDHHS SEWER and SAPPHIRE projects.  These projects are in partnership with researchers in the School of Public Health (Profs. Eisenberg, Foxman, and others). 

To detect and quantify the virus quantity in samples, nucleic acids are  extracted from wastewater, the viral nucleic genes are quantified with digital droplet PCR, and then the data is analyzed.The data is then uploaded to our public dashboard. SARS-CoV-2 data is also uploaded to the CDC data tracker site enabling comparisons of SARS-CoV2 across the US. 

We have been part of a number of research projects aimed at advancing wastewater-based epidemiology. A collaboration with the FIND COVID project at the University of California San Francisco has focused on generating high-quality quantitative SARS-CoV-2 fecal shedding trajectories of SARS-CoV-2. We subsequently incorporated this data into models that help the interpretation of wastewater-based epidemiology data and the tracking of infectious disease outbreaks with wastewater.  We study the persistence and partitioning of nucleic acids and virus particles in wastewater to better interpret WBE results and model WBE systems. We work on developing detection methods that are sensitive, fast, and multiplexed for WBE applications.