Development of low cost and user friendly assay for quality assurance of safe drinking water

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Recent worldwide waterborne disease outbreaks are a stark reminder that current treatment/monitoring technologies are not sufficient to protect the public health from water borne diseases. While there has been significant progress in the development of treatment technologies to provide safe drinking water, there is still a definite need for better tools to monitor water for potential diseases caused by contaminated drinking water. Many researchers are working towards the development of online sensors or early warning systems for drinking water suppliers. Many of the sensors in use rely on the measurement of indicators such as turbidity and chlorine levels for evidences of water quality. The current pathogen specific monitoring techniques are not reproducible or efficient. In addition, they are too expensive for many small communities to use to conduct a monitoring campaign. Dr. Roberts and her team have partnered with Dr. Peter Wallis of Hyperion Research Ltd, targeting the hardest to measure organisms, the protozoan pathogens Giardia and Cryptosporidium. This proposal describes the first stage of the collaboration, the development of an assay to determine if the Cryptosporidium and Giardia present in water samples are sufficiently damaged by exposure to UV light that they cannot reproduce and are thus rendered nonviable. We propose to convert the current whole cell immunofluorescent method for measuring DNA damage in cells, which is dependent on microscopic evaluation, to an assay that can be performed in a test tube or 96 well plate. This will allow a rapid assessment of the viability of Cryptosporidium and Giardia that have been captured using standard or newly developed filtration technologies. Hyperion and Canada will benefit from this research through the commercial application of the new methods as well as through this improved method for the protection of public health.