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AN OVERVIEW OF PATHOGEN RESEARCH IN THE MICROBIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT RESEARCH DIVISION
Citation:
GRIMM, A. AN OVERVIEW OF PATHOGEN RESEARCH IN THE MICROBIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT RESEARCH DIVISION. Presented at USEPA Workshop on Innovative Approaches for Detecting Microorganisms in Water, Cincinnati, OH, June 18 - 20, 2007.
Impact/Purpose:
Overarching Objectives and Links to Multi-Year Planning
This task directly supports the 2003 Drinking Water Research Program Multi-Year Plan's long term goal 2 to "develop new data, innovative tools and improved technologies to support decision making by the Office of Water on the Contaminant Candidate List and other regulatory issues" under GRPA Goal 2 (Clean and Safe Water). The overarching objective is to provide the Office of Water, Agency risk assessors and managers, academics, the scientific community, state regulators, water industry and industry spokes groups the methods they need to measure occurrence of waterborne viral pathogens. The method improvements will facilitate the development of risk-based assessments and tools used by the Agency to set regulations, policies and priorities for protecting human health and allow the Agency to assure the public that the appropriate methods are being used to demonstrate that drinking water is safe from pathogenic agents.
Specific Objectives
Subtask A: Improving sample collecting, virus concentration and sample preparation
o Develop a less expensive alternative to the Virosorb 1 MDS filter.
Subtask B: Molecular and Cultural Assays
o Investigate methods to improve the reverse transcription step in reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays by when, for what purpose, for what client.
o Development of complete real-time assays that can be used for screening environmental samples.
o Develop a reporter gene cell culture system to indicate if virus infection has occurred without the use of molecular assays.
o Use improved cell culture lines to develop assays for nonculturable or poorly growing viruses.
Description:
The Microbiological and Chemical Exposure Assessment Research Division of the EPA Office of Research and Development's National Exposure Research Laboratory has a robust in-house research program aimed at developing better occurrence and exposure methods for waterborne pathogens. In particular, research is aimed toward developing and improving occurrence methods so that they are more rapid, sensitive and inexpensive. To conduct this research, a diverse array of detection technologies is used, including real-time PCR, microarrays, proteomics, and cell culture, among others. In addition, the division has more recently invested in evaluating new approaches to collecting and concentrating samples more effectively. The long-term goal of this work is to enable the Agency to conduct better, more accurate risk assessments that will aid regulatory decision-making.