Speakers: Justin Hutchison, PhD

Justin Hutchison, PhD

Ernest C. Pogge Chair’s Council Assistant Professor in the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering Department
University of Kansas

Dr. Justin M. Hutchison is the Ernest C. Pogge Chair’s Council Assistant Professor in the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering Department at the University of Kansas. Dr. Hutchison also holds courtesy appointments in the Bioengineering Program and the Infectious Disease Division at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has B.A. degrees in Biochemistry and Biology. His awards include a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the American Water Works Association Larson Aquatic Research Award, and the ARCS Foundation Award. His research focuses on understanding microbial pathways through advanced proteomic techniques and advancing protein-based applications for water treatment.

SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Measurements Normalized Using Biomarkers

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the potential role that wastewater-based epidemiology can play in assessing aggregate community health. Efforts to translate Sars-CoV-2 gene copy numbers obtained from wastewater samples into community health indicators are nascent. This work measured Sars-CoV-2 nucleocapsid genes (N1 and N2) from two wastewater treatment plants for seven months. Four biomarkers (human mitochondrial gene NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5, creatinine, ammonia, and biological oxygen demand) were quantified and used to normalize Sars-CoV-2 gene copy numbers to account for variations in sewershed conditions. The normalized values were correlated to daily new case data and one-, two-, and three-week cumulative case data. The strongest correlations were observed with a one-day case data lag (ρ = 0.70). However, splitting the study into two time periods yields significantly stronger correlations. Early measurements were strongly correlated with a six-day case data lag (ρ = 0.83), while the latter half of the testing period yielded correlations of 0.81 with a one-day case data lag. For early stages of the pandemic, the wastewater samples may have indicated active COVID-19 cases before clinical indications. Wastewater-based epidemiology can be a tool to monitor community health, and human-specific biomarkers may be used to account for variations in sewershed conditions.