Page 1 - DUT Conduit

volume 21 no. 1
DUT Launches Agri-Hub to Fight Poverty and High Unemployment Rate
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the university newspaper
Stewardship is About How the DUT Community can Demonstrate their Values and Principles
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April 2021
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE
Dr Vahed Selected for the Future Professors Programme
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PROF BUX AND HIS TEAM TALK ON THE COVID-19 ANALYSIS UNDERTAKEN BYIWWT
Waheeda Peters
COVID-19 analysis demands a lot of time and resources in light of the current pandemic. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) of COVID-19 can provide an additional tool to monitor for hotspots and tracking of the virus in communities and serving as an early warning system.
“Formanyyears,ourcoreareasofresearch focused on clean energy and biofuel and alternate energy, and optimisation of wastewater treatment. So, a lot of what we do is informed by the needs of society and the needs of the water sector in our country,” said Professor Faizal Bux, the Director of the Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology (IWWT) at DUT.
IWWT is at the forefront of SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Surveillance. The Institute, with an array of advanced molecular biology equipment, is playing a critical role in monitoring and tracking COVID-19 infection spread in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. IWWT is part of the South African Collaborative COVID-19 Environmental Surveillance System (SACCESS) network in support of the national wastewater surveillance programme. The Institute also initiated the KZN SARS-CoV-2 task-team, which is a local collaborative effort involving the Institute, the provincial Department of Health, National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), Umgeni Water, eThekwini Municipality and stakeholders from the municipal wastewater treatment sector.
Currently, the Institute is monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in four different Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP) in Durban and Pietermaritzburg. SARS-CoV-2 has been successfully identified and quantified from
the various WWTPs. Through this analysis, IWWT was able to detect an increase in COVID-19 cases at the end of September, marking the second wave, weeks before the corresponding increase in clinical cases was reported.
Prof Bux relayed that he has a specialised multi-disciplinary team with different expertise, including wastewater, engineering, microbiology and molecular biology.
“We have state-of-the-art laboratories and high-end molecular biology equipment, which are key to conducting COVID-19 analysis,” stressed Prof Bux. The team uses the most advanced droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) platform for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acids from wastewater samples. It is a highly specialised piece of equipment and IWWT is one of the few labs globally that have access to this machine. This technology is more sensitive, accurate and less affected by inhibitors commonly found in environmental samples when compared the quantitative PCR method, which is the testing method currently being used globally for CO VID-19 analysis.”
In terms of processing, the entire process takes three days (from sample collection to data analysis). The sampling is done weekly.
The IWWT COVID-19 team consists of four members who have many years of experience among them in the field of water microbiology and molecular biology. It comprises Kriveshin Pillay, a Research Technician, who is responsible for sampling (Pietermaritzburg), sample processing, chemical and biological analysis, and data interpretation. Also liaises with the wastewater treatment plant personnel.
Pictured: The COVID-19 team at IWWT.
Dr Isaac Dennis Amoah, Post-doctoral fellow: His duty entails sampling in the Durban area, he communicates with stakeholders such as the South African Collaborative CO VID-19 Environmental Surveillance System (SACCESS) Network, as well as coordinates the report and manuscript writing.
“I assist with wastewater processing, analysis when necessary and I coordinate our scientific publications and reporting to stakeholders such as the Municipality, Water Research Commission, Umgeni Water and SACCESS, etc. I also assist with drafting funding applications to support the research,” he said.
Dr Oluyemi Olatunji Awolusi is a Research Associate who is responsible for molecular detection and quantification using RT-qPCR technique, and extraction of RNA from concentrated wastewater samples.
Dr Leanne Pillay, post-doctoral researcher, is responsible for detection of SARS-CoV-2 using the ddPCR platform. She is responsible for the analysis and reporting of this data as well as any correlation with clinical data.
“I am involved in the analysis of the wastewater samples using our Droplet Digital Polymerase Chain Reaction (ddPCR) platform. I am also responsible for the analysis of the data that we obtain (being able to tell if SARS-CoV-2 is present or absent) and correlating this data with clinical data,” she said.
Dr Pillay further said that in essence, conventional PCR is a method by which specific genetic signatures that are unique to
the organism of interest (in this case SARS- CoV-2) are amplified within a sample.
“We are then able to tell if SARS-CoV-2 is present or absent.
However, what we are currently using is called ddPCR, which is at the forefront in terms of PCR technology. DdPCR is a step up from conventional PCR as it uses a combination of microfluidics and surfactant chemistry to provide us with an absolute count of the target (SARS-CoV-2) with unparalleled precision. So, not only can we detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 but we can quantify it as well. This technology is more sensitive and precise than other methods being used globally for SARS-CoV-2 detection,” she said.
Professor Sheena Kumari Kuttan Pillai, co- leader of the project, is responsible for
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