Bluephage brings together pioneers in the field of coliphage research to review the past, present, and future of new viral indicators in water
- Invited speakers are world experts and leaders in the field of coliphages research Dr. Mark D. Sobsey, Dr. Charles P. Gerba, and Dr. Juan Jofre.
- The webinar will be held on Thursday, April 21 at 16:00 CET// 11:00 (EST) // 8:00 (GMT-7) and will be open and accessible to all audiences.
Bluephage will host a roundtable discussion with microbiologists Dr. Mark D. Sobsey, PhD, professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Dr. Charles P. Gerba, PhD, professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Arizona, and Dr. Juan Jofre, PhD, professor emeritus in the Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, Microbiology section, at the University of Barcelona, to shed light on the past 60 years of research on coliphages, non-pathogenic viruses that infect coliform bacteria such as E.coli.
From the early years when coliphages began to emerge as potential indicators of microbial water quality, to the present time when some international regulations already require them to certify water safety, the session will end with an overview of the future of the environmental testing market, conditioned by climate change.
The roundtable, which will be organized in a virtual format and held on Thursday, April 21 at 16:00 CET // 11:00 (EST) // 8:00 (GMT-7), aims to reflect on a current debate about the increased effectiveness of viruses over bacteria in determining the safety of water for human and agricultural use.
Invited experts and leaders in coliphage research will present and discuss why these non-pathogenic viruses are emerging as potential viral indicators of water and what barriers they have encountered over the past sixty years to demonstrate their viability.
They will also reflect on how climate change affects the water cycle and urge the need to commercialize rapid and effective environmental pathogen detection tests.
All of this will be discussed during the one-hour online session, which will be open and accessible to all audiences by accessing the registration link
Invited speakers:
Dr. Mark D. Sobsey, PhD, professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina.
Recently retired from his full-time position as Kenan Distinguished Professor, he studies human exposure to and health effects from pathogens (disease-causing) microbes in water, food and other environmental media to which people can become exposed in the developed and developing word, and the development and implementation of improved pathogen and microbial indicator detection methods.
Dr. Charles P. Gerba, PhD, professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Arizona
He is professor of virology in the Dept of Environmental Science. He has authored over 500 journal articles, books and has been featured on numerous television programs and magazines. Dr. Gerba has an international reputation for his methodologies for pathogen detection in water and food, pathogen occurrence in households, and risk assessment.
Dr. Juan Jofre, PhD, professor emeritus in the Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, Microbiology section, at the University of Barcelona.
He is an expert on the study of the presence and persistence of pathogenic microorganisms of faecal-oral route transmissions and their indicators in water, and member of the Research Group Water Microbiology related to Health (Microbiologia d’Aigües Relacionada amb la Salut, MARS). He acted as chair of the Health-Related Water Microbiology Group -IWA (2000 – 2004). He chaired the ISO Working Group WG11 (Bacteriophages), Subcommittee of Microbiology (SC4) and Technical Committee “Water” (SC4)of the International Standardization Organization (ISO), that settled the ISO methods for the detection of somatic coliphages and bacteriophages infecting Bacteroides fragilis (1996 -2001).
Read more Bluephage Articles and News on H2O Global News. Do you have an article or video that you would like to share? Submit your article here or keep up with the latest news from the water industry and wastewater industry by subscribing to our weekly newsletter
