SBIR Phase I: Automated In-Situ High-Resolution COVID-19 Wastewater-Based Epidemiology

The broader impact of this SBIR Phase I project addresses the monitoring needs via wastewater-based epidemiology of current and emerging viruses that pose high risks to public health. With the rapidly evolving nature of the pandemic situation and the recent emergence of the coronavirus variants, one common concern is that the virus variants are more contagious than their predecessors, and will likely spread quickly within communities without early detection and warning. Other concerns are that future mutations may not be covered by existing vaccines, in which case early monitoring through high resolution wastewater-based epidemiology will become one of the only effective means of providing early alerts of the presence of such mutated virus variants within local communities. With a wide adaptation of the proposed instrumentation by municipalities, large and small communities such as college campuses and senior care facilities, the project enables the early detection and monitoring of the current coronavirus and its variants during the pandemic. The technology can also be extended to other emerging viruses with risks of community spread in the years to follow, not only in wastewater but also in widespread environmental and recreational water quality monitoring. The proposed project is a highly-optimized reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) approach for in-situ sampling and analysis, and the realization of a corresponding instrumentation platform that is applicable to the early detection and monitoring of different viruses, including the current coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), its variants, and other emerging viruses. The proposed technology aims to reduce the time-to-result compared to current wastewater-based epidemiology approaches while minimizing cost and logistics. The effort will include the testing of several protocols that are amendable to adaption for automated in-situ SARS-CoV-2 measurement, followed by the selection and optimization of the most suitable one. The protocols will be subsequently tested and validated using spiked samples, along with appropriate positive and negative controls. The approach will implement, for the first time in an automated device, the latest advances in molecular biology protocols, such as extraction-free single-step RT-qPCR. The project strives to achieve the first in-situ RT-qPCR available, with the potential to completely revolutionize the fields of wastewater-based epidemiology, general environmental testing and source tracking. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.