Guest Speakers

Dr. Paul Monis

Manager, Research Stakeholders and Planning
Water Expertise and Research, South Australian Water Corporation
Adjunct Associate Professor, University of South Australia

Paul is a senior research scientist at SA Water with a focus on providing better tools and information for assessing the risks to water quality and to support risk management / risk mitigation. Paul is an internationally recognised expert in the detection and genetic characterisation of protozoan parasites in water. Paul’s research interests include the application of molecular techniques to the detection of microbial contaminants in water, characterising the physical processes involved in the environmental inactivation of pathogens and laboratory and field-based evaluation of disinfection technologies for contaminant removal.

Presentation Title: Rapid development and implementation of a wastewater surveillance tool for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) to provide early warning of community infection to health departments

Abstract:
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, reports emerged showing the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. Australian health authorities used this as an opportunity to detect and manage COVID-19 in the community.
SA Water, in partnership with the SA Health Department, undertook a rapid method development project (March to July 2020) to establish, improve and implement methods for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater monitoring. This project leveraged our expertise for the detection of gastroenteric viruses in wastewater. Method development was accelerated by nation-wide collaboration via the Water Research Australia-led Colossos project, involving water utilities, testing laboratories, researchers, and state health agencies. This approach allowed rapid sharing of information and samples from locations with high COVID prevalence, which was important to allow method validation.
In South Australia, surveillance was initially used for outbreak detection while borders were closed and the prevalence of COVID was low. Following the opening of borders in late 2021, surveillance has transitioned to provide a trending tool to verify levels of community disease as the level of clinical testing has decreased, and to provide an alternative option for variant detection.

Dr. Rebekah Henry

Pathogen and Genomics Team Lead
Revitalisation of Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE)
Environmental Public Health Microbiology Laboratory
Department of Civil Engineering
Monash University

Dr Rebekah Henry is an inter-disciplinary researcher and public health microbiologist working within the Environmental and Public Health Microbiology (EPHM) Lab in the Department of Civil Engineering (Monash University). Across her 20-year career she has applied genetic tools to understand how disease-causing organisms interact with their environment; whether that is within humans or in environments such as urban waterways, soils and sediments within Victoria and the larger Asia-Pacific region. This knowledge has formed the backbone of her current research that focuses on understanding the spread of disease through water and how the application of sustainable technologies can interrupt these transport cycles.

Presentation title: The application of array card technology for wastewater and environmental monitoring.

Abstract:
Enteric infections are a leading cause of global disease burdens. These enteropathogens (viral, bacterial, protozoa and helminths) can be transmitted between humans via animal and environmental reservoirs. In the past, individual qPCR assays have been used to detect these organisms across a range of contexts. However, qPCR is limited in its ability to detect a broad range of pathogens within a single sample. TaqMan array cards (TAC) allows simultaneous detection of multiple enteropathogens either through application of existing respiratory or pathogen array designs or modified (custom arrays) to suit particular systems. Through this talk we will present how array technology is currently supporting wastewater and environmental monitoring through a range of systems in Victoria and the pacific.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Speaker

Stephen Dixon

Technical Applications Specialist
Specialty Diagnostics Group - Thermo Fisher Scientific

Stephen Dixon is a Technical Applications Specialist for Specialty Diagnostics Group at Thermo Fisher Scientific, where he has also supported Industry as a Microbiology Product Specialist for over 9 years. Prior to that Stephen worked as a territory manager at R-Biopharm, a product manager and account manager for BD and Account Executive at Oxoid. He has also worked as a technical consultant for EML laboratories and a technical officer at UNSW.

Presentation Title: New Standard and novel rapid methods utilizing chromogenic media for detection of E.coli and Coliforms

Abstract:
In 2019 a new standard was released for E. coli and Coliform testing in drinking and waste waters. The objective of this Standard is to specify a method, using membrane filtration, for enumerating coliforms, Escherichia coli (E. coli) and thermotolerant coliforms in water other than packaged water.
In 2014 a new ISO method, ISO 9308-1Water quality — Enumeration of Escherichia coli and coliform bacteria Part 1: Membrane filtration method for waters with low bacterial background flora.
As a direct result of the 2000 Walkerton, Ontario E. coli disaster, TECTA-PDS was determined to revolutionize microbiology and prevent such a disaster from ever happening again. Early success in developing their ‘lab-in-a-box’ solution, led to the development  of the TECTA B16 instrument and TECTAlert cartridges -for drinking water monitoring.
This has led to many changes in the methods for detecting E.coli and Coliforms in water.