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

使用多孔高吸水性聚合物 (PSAP) 珠进行收集点样品预处理和保存，用于废水监测测试

• 批准号: 2228300
• 负责人: Xing Xie
• 金额: $ 42万
• 依托单位: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2228300&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Point; Collection; Sample; Pretreatment; Preservation

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.

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记物的检测和定量可用于监测。目前，用于 WSS 测量的废水样品需要在收集后立即冷藏在 4°C 下，并在 24 小时内进行处理，以提高结果的准确性。导致不可避免地依赖冷链来收集、运输和储存废水样品，这在资源有限的环境中在后勤和经济上可能都不可行。这项研究的首要目标是设计和合成新型多孔聚合物珠。可以吸收收集到的废水，目的是在不需要冷链的情况下保存样品和珠子内的目标病原体。该项目的成功完成有可能提高 WSS 测试的准确性并降低成本，从而促进其测试。在资源有限的环境中采用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，将给社会带来额外的好处。废水监测（WSS）可以补充现有的临床和诊断工具，用于监测传染性病原体和疾病的传播和传播。然而，通常需要用于废水样品收集、运输和储存的冷链，为了克服这一挑战，主要研究人员（PI）建议研究多孔高吸水性聚合物（PSAP）的设计、合成和评估。可以吸收的珠子废水样本并在收集点捕获目标病原体，最初重点关注尺寸为 20-200 纳米的病毒。本研究的具体目标是 1) 设计和定制废水样本的成分、结构、物理化学和功能特性。 PSAP 珠子可优化从废水样品中选择性捕获目标病毒病原体；2) 证明 PSAP 珠子对废水样品预处理和保存的有效性；3) 研究 PSAP 珠子保存测试目标的机制； 4) 使用佐治亚理工学院校园内正在进行的 WWS 监测 SARS-CoV-2 作为测试案例，通过对标准采样方法进行基准测试来验证新的 PSAP 珠子的有效性。该项目的成功完成有可能通过开发产生变革性影响。验证更有效的采样设备和协议，以促进 WWS 在资源有限、服务水平低下的环境中的实施和部署 为了实现该项目的教育和培训目标，PI 建议利用佐治亚理工学院的现有项目，例如SURE（夏季工程/科学本科生研究计划，招募和指导来自代表性不足群体的本科生参与该项目。此外，PI 计划让所有项目研究生/本科生参与佐治亚理工学院校园 WWS 计划，并为他们提供学习从事将微生物学与材料科学和环境工程融合的跨学科项目所需的跨学科技能的机会。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环境评估进行评估，被认为值得支持。更广泛的影响审查标准。