Advanced Analytical Platform for SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Surveillance

用于 SARS-CoV-2 废水监测的先进分析平台

• 批准号: 576140-2022
• 负责人: Peng, HuiH
• 金额: $ 9.83万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=748323
• 关键词: Advanced; Analytical; Platform; SARS; CoV

As of early May, 2022, the outbreak of COVID-19 had led to over 3.7 million positive cases and 39,200 deaths in Canada. Unfortunately, and especially with more contagious variants of concern (VOCs), performing current nasopharyngeal swabs testing at a population-wide level is impractical. Wastewater surveillance has been benchmarked as a cost-effective way to trace COVID-19 at the community level. Indeed, the UofT team, co-led by Dr. Hui Peng and Dr. Elizabeth Edwards, is currently monitoring SARS-CoV-2 trends in nine wastewater treatment plants that serve more than three million Ontario residents. However, the current wastewater SARS-CoV-2 surveillance approach is challenged by several limitations related to analytical methods and fundamental mechanisms. In the face of rising cases of the latest variant, Omicron, the need for more accurate surveillance is even more pressing. In the proposed project, the UofT team will develop an advanced analytical platform for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance by partnering with the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), Toronto Public Health (TPH), Toronto Water and a commercial testing lab (SiREM). Three research objectives will be pursued in this project. First, a new sample enrichment method will be established by integrating three biorthogonal assays. The new sample enrichment method is expected to improve the sensitivity of the current SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance by a factor of 10. We also aim to establish a novel LC-MS method for the rapid detection of new VOCs in wastewaters. This method may provide valuable advantages over qPCR and next-generation sequencing including short turnaround time, and high accuracy. Lastly, we will focus on elucidating the fundamental mechanism for the stability of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in wastewaters despite presence of RNases. Shotgun proteomics will be employed to identify which proteins complex with viral RNA in wastewaters. The analytical platform established through this proposed Alliance project is expected to advance SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance, and will be adopted by MECP in a next phase of the Ontario wastewater surveillance initiative.

截至2022年5月初，新冠肺炎的爆发已导致加拿大370多万例阳性病例和39,200例死亡。不幸的是，尤其是在更具传染性的关注变种(VOC)的情况下，在全人群水平上进行目前的鼻咽拭子检测是不切实际的。废水监测已被视为在社区层面追踪新冠肺炎的一种经济高效的方式。事实上，由许鹏博士和伊丽莎白·爱德华兹博士共同领导的UofT团队目前正在监测9家污水处理厂的SARS-CoV-2趋势，这些工厂为300多万安大略省居民提供服务。然而，目前的废水SARS-CoV-2监测方法受到与分析方法和基本机制有关的几个限制的挑战。面对不断上升的最新变种奥米克龙的病例，对更准确监控的需求更加迫切。在拟议的项目中，UofT团队将与环境、自然保护和公园部(MECP)、多伦多公共卫生部(TPH)、多伦多水务公司和一个商业测试实验室(SiREM)合作，开发用于SARS-CoV-2废水监测的高级分析平台。本项目将追求三个研究目标。首先，将三种双正交分析相结合，建立一种新的样品富集法。新的样品富集法有望将目前SARS-CoV-2废水监测的灵敏度提高10倍。我们还旨在建立一种新的LC-MS方法来快速检测废水中新的VOCs。这种方法可能提供比qPCR和下一代测序更有价值的优点，包括周转时间短，准确度高。最后，我们将重点阐明尽管存在核糖核酸酶，废水中SARS-CoV-2病毒RNA稳定的基本机制。鸟枪式蛋白质组学将被用来确定废水中哪些蛋白质与病毒RNA复合。通过这一拟议的联盟项目建立的分析平台预计将推动SARS-CoV-2废水监测，并将在安大略省废水监测倡议的下一阶段被MECP采用。