Due to a last minute unforeseen event, we have to postpone the start of our webinar to 1.30 pm this Tuesday.

The COVID-19 pandemic put virtual meetings at center stage. The LNS Microbiology department would like to capitalize on this new scientific era by gathering online interested parties for knowledge sharing and scientific learning. The team therefore created the virtual forum, Lux-MicroHub, to bring you together, on a monthly basis, to present and discuss the latest advances in Clinical Microbiology.

Thus, it is a great pleasure to invite you to attend the third webinar Lux-MicroHub which will take place Tuesday, 11 May 2021 (01:30 pm) via the following Webex link:https://lns.webex.com/lns/j.php?MTID=m6d66b5bdf933ead8f23cd85ff43fc096

Analysing SARS-CoV-2 in sewers: an effective way to monitor epidemiological status of human populations

For this new webinar, two researchers from LIST, Dr. Henry-Michel Cauchie and Dr. Leslie Ogorzaly will present their role in monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in sewage.  Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is a powerful tool for public health surveillance, as it allows a snapshot of what is circulating in urine and faeces at a community-level. Historically, focusing on enteric viruses because of their faecal shedding and high persistence in the environment, WBEs have been widely used to contribute to broader epidemiological surveillance and infectious disease mitigation efforts, such as the global polio eradication initiative (WHO 2003). The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, however, pushed the boundaries of WBE, tracking the spread of a primarily respiratory enveloped virus in wastewater. The inter-institutional CORONASTEP+ study in Luxembourg showed a very good correlation between wastewater data and human cases. In addition, an increase in the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 RNA could be demonstrated in sewage samples collected several days before detection of COVID-19 by clinical surveillance. Recent data collected indicate that the sewage samples can also used to track the SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern.

After the presentation, we will dedicate time for questions to our invited speakers. If you already have specific questions, feel free to address them to luxmicrohub@lns.etat.lu

Dr Henry-Michel Cauchie is Head of the Research Group on Environmental microbiology and Biotechnologies research unit at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST). He has a background in Ecology and a large experience in water science and technology. Besides research activities, he is active in teaching at the University of Luxembourg and the University of Liège on ecology and monitoring of environment quality. The focuses of the research group are the environmental monitoring of waterborne pathogens and the development of decontamination technologies.

Dr Leslie OGORZALY is a virologist and holds a PhD in Environment and Health from the University of Lorraine. She is a researcher in the Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology research unit of the LIST, and is interested in the detection of viral particles in water and their infectious nature. For this purpose, she has developed advanced technological tools, combining culture with new molecular tools such as (RT)-qPCR and next generation sequencing. In close collaboration with hydrologists, she analyzes the environmental behavior of viral particles and the associated health risks throughout the water cycle. It is therefore quite natural that she set up the epidemiological monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 in Luxembourg’s wastewater, a tool that proved to be very valuable for the management of the health crisis by the authorities.