Recent Publications
Select publications from the Qu[E|M] Lab can be found below. Many of these articles are published as open access and are freely available for use.
Producing ratio measures of effect with quantitative microbial risk assessment
June 2022
QMRA has proven to be a useful framework for estimating infectious disease risks associated with various human exposures; however, integration of QMRA with existing epidemiological frameworks is constrained by disparate endpoint measures. Here we propose a method for producing traditional epidemiology measures of effect using QMRA.
Application of digital PCR for public health-related water quality monitoring
April 2022
Digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) is emerging as a reliable platform for quantifying microorganisms in the field of health-related water microbiology. This paper reviews the fundamental principles of dPCR and its applications for health-related water microbiology.
Passive sampling to scale wastewater surveillance of infectious disease: Lessons learned from COVID-19
April 2022
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, passive sampling is re-emerging as a promising technique to monitor SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater. Herein, we briefly review the history of wastewater passive sampling, recent applications during the COVID-19 pandemic, including comparisons between passive, grab, and composite sampling, along with the potential benefits and constraints of passive sampling workflows.
Detection of the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of SARS-CoV-2 in aircraft wastewater
January 2022
We putatively detected the Omicron variant in an aircraft wastewater sample from a flight arriving to Darwin, Australia from Johannesburg, South Africa on the 25th of November 2021 via positive results on the CDC N1, CDC N2, and del(69–70) RT-qPCR assays per guidance from the WHO. The Australian Northern Territory Health Department detected one passenger onboard the flight who was infected with SARS-CoV-2, which was determined to be the Omicron VOC by sequencing of a nasopharyngeal swab sample.