Point-of-Collection Sample Pretreatment and Preservation with Porous Super-Absorbent Polymer (PSAP) Beads for Wastewater Surveillance Testing

废水监测(WWS)已成为监测和跟踪传染病传播和传播的多功能平台。WWS的基本前提是，从未经处理的废水样本中提取的微生物和病毒生物标志物的检测和量化可用于监测社区传染病的发病、传播和传播。目前，用于WSS测量的废水样品需要在收集后立即在4℃下冷藏，并在24小时内进行处理，以提高结果的准确性。这些要求导致不可避免地依赖冷链收集、运输和储存废水样本，在资源有限的情况下，这在后勤和财务上都可能是不可行的。这项研究的首要目标是设计和合成新型的多孔聚合物小球，这种小球可以吸收收集的废水，目的是在不需要冷链的情况下保存小球中的样本和目标病原体。该项目的成功完成有可能提高WSS测试的准确性和降低成本，这将有助于在人口服务不足、资源有限的情况下采用WSS测试。将通过学生教育和培训，包括对佐治亚理工学院研究生的指导，为社会带来更多好处。污水监测(WSS)可以补充现有的临床和诊断工具，以监测传染病病原体和疾病的传播和传播。然而，通常需要用于收集、运输和存储废水样本的冷链。为了克服这一挑战，首席调查员(PI)建议研究多孔高吸水性聚合物(PSAP)微珠的设计、合成和评估，这种微珠可以吸收废水样本并在采集点捕获目标病原体，最初的重点是20-200纳米大小的病毒。这项研究的具体目标是1)设计和定制PSAP小球的组成、结构、理化和功能特性，以优化从废水样本中选择性捕获目标病毒病原体的过程；2)展示PSAP小球用于废水样本预处理和保存的有效性；3)研究PSAP小球保存测试目标的机制；以及4)通过使用佐治亚理工大学正在进行的SARS-CoV-2 WWS监测作为测试案例，以标准采样方法为基准来验证新的PSAP小球的有效性。这一项目的成功完成有可能通过开发和验证更有效的采样设备和协议，推动在资源有限、人口服务不足的环境中实施和部署WWS，从而产生变革性的影响。为了实现该项目的教育和培训目标，PIS建议利用佐治亚理工学院现有的计划，如SURE(暑期工程/科学本科生研究)计划，从代表性不足的群体中招募和指导本科生参与该项目。此外，PIS计划让佐治亚理工学院校园WWS计划的所有项目研究生/本科生参与，并为他们提供机会学习在一个将微生物学与材料科学和环境工程相结合的跨学科项目中所需的跨学科技能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Wastewater surveillance (WWS) has emerged as a versatile platform for monitoring and tracking the spread and transmission of infectious diseases. The basic premise of WWS is that the detection and quantification of microbial and virial biomarkers extracted from samples of untreated wastewater can be used to monitor the onset, spread, and transmission of infectious diseases in communities. Currently, wastewater samples for WSS measurements need to be refrigerated at 4°C immediately after collection and processed within 24 h to increase the accuracy of the results. These requirements lead to an inevitable reliance on a cold chain for collecting, transporting, and storing wastewater samples, which might not be feasible both logistically and financially in resource-limited settings. The overarching goal of this research is to design and synthesize novel porous polymer beads that could absorb the collected wastewater with the goal of preserving the samples and the target pathogens within the beads without the need for a cold chain. The successful completion of this project has the potential to improve accuracy and lower the cost of WSS testing which will facilitate its adoption in resource-limited settings with underserved populations. Additional benefits to society will be achieved through student education and training including the mentoring of a graduate student at Georgia Tech.Wastewater surveillance (WSS) can complement existing clinical and diagnosis tools for monitoring the spread and transmission of infectious pathogens and disease. However, a cold chain for the collection, transport, and storage of wastewater samples is typically required. To overcome this challenge, the Principal Investigators (PIs) proposes to investigate the design, synthesis, and evaluation of porous super-absorbent polymer (PSAP) beads that could absorb wastewater samples and capture the target pathogens at the point of collection with an initial focus on viruses with 20-200 nanometers in size. The specific objectives of this research are to 1) design and tailor the composition, structure, physicochemical, and functional properties of PSAP beads to optimize the selective capture of target viral pathogens from wastewater samples; 2) demonstrate the effectiveness of PSAP beads for wastewater sample pretreatment and preservation; 3) investigate the mechanisms of PSAP beads for the preservation of testing targets; and 4) validate the new PSAP beads by benchmarking their effectiveness against the standard sampling methodology using ongoing WWS monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 on the Georgia Tech campus as test cases. The successful completion of this project has the potential for transformative impact through the development and validation of more effective sampling devices and protocols to advance the implementation and deployment of WWS in in resource-limited settings with underserved populations. To implement the education and training goals of the project, the PIs propose to leverage existing programs at Georgia Tech such as the SURE (Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering/Sciences) program to recruit and mentor undergraduate students from underrepresented groups to work on the project. In addition, the PIs plan to involve all the project graduate/undergraduate students with the Georgia Tech campus WWS program and provide them with the opportunity to learn cross-discipline skills needed to work on a transdisciplinary project that converges microbiology with materials science and environmental engineering.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.