Norovirus persistence in surface water

人类诺如病毒引起严重的胃肠道疾病。尽管这种病毒通常存在于水中，但很少有人研究这种病毒在湖泊、河流和海洋等地表水中的生存能力。在这个项目中，研究人员将调查人类诺如病毒在地表水中存活的时间。所产生的知识将为地表水的管理以及废水和水处理工艺的设计提供信息。该项目解决了保护人类健康的高度优先研究需求。这些教育活动将使从学龄前儿童到终身研究员的学习者受益。人类诺如病毒（hNoV）是全球胃肠炎的主要病因，也是娱乐性水传播疾病的最重要病因。该项目的目标是填补地表水中hNoV持久性的关键知识空白。本研究包括协调实验室、中观和模型研究。目标是在与地表水相关的广泛条件下开发一种可推广的hNoV失活预测模型。hNoV不容易培养，因此hNoV的失活将使用分子方法进行近似，旨在区分感染性和非感染性hNoV，并研究hNoV失活的机制（衣壳损伤和基因组损伤）。这项工作将使人们在了解水中hNoV持久性方面取得新的进展，并将对地表水的管理产生直接影响，以保护人类健康。该研究还将为应用于其他病毒的hNoV灭活机制提供新的见解，从而推动应用微生物学和病毒学领域的发展。与加州和全国环保局的海滩管理人员社区联系？美国科学与技术办公室将在工作组会议上进行报告。研究小组向这两个群体提供的信息可以为国家水质标准提供信息。项目小组将为学龄前儿童开发新的微生物课程，并将成果纳入课堂教学。研究生将攻读博士学位，本科生将在此项目中获得研究经验。该项目团队将与斯坦福大学的多元化项目合作，确定代表性不足的学生参与拟议的工作。为了推广这项研究，该团队将参加当地的科学节。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Human norovirus causes severe gastrointestinal illness. Even though it is commonly found in water, there has been little work to examine the survivability of the virus in surface waters like lakes, rivers, and oceans. In this project, researchers will investigate how long human norovirus survives in surface waters. The generated knowledge will inform the management of surface waters and the design of wastewater and water treatment processes. The project addresses a high priority research need to protect human health. The educational activities will benefit learners from preschoolers to tenured researchers. Human norovirus (hNoV) is the leading global cause of gastroenteritis and is the most important etiology of recreational waterborne illness. The objective of this project is to fill the critical knowledge gap in hNoV persistence in surface water. This research consists of coordinated laboratory, mesocosm, and modeling studies. The goal is to develop a generalizable predictive model for hNoV inactivation under a wide range of conditions relevant to surface waters. hNoV cannot be readily cultured, so hNoV inactivation will be approximated using molecular methods that aim to differentiate infectious from non-infectious hNoV and investigate the mechanism of hNoV inactivation (capsid damage and genome lesions). The work will yield novel advances in the understanding of hNoV persistence in water, and it will have immediate implications for the management of surface waters for the protection of human health. This research will also advance the field of applied microbiology and virology by providing new insights into mechanisms of hNoV inactivation that may be applied to other viruses. Outreach to the beach manager community in California and nationally at EPA?s Office of Science & Technology will take place through presentations at working group meetings. Information provided to these two groups by the research team can inform national water quality standards for viruses. The project team will develop new curricula on microorganisms for preschool children and will also integrate the results into classroom instruction. A graduate student will pursue PhD research and undergraduate students will gain research experience during the course of this project. The project team will work with the diversity program Stanford University to identify underrepresented students to participate in the proposed work. In order to promote this research, the team will participate in a local science festival.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.