UNLV wastewater analysis program looks to expand scope of testing

Edwin Oh, far left, reveals Chris Heavy, center left, David Hatchett, center, scientist Joelyne Contreras and Illumina District Manager Wilson Braulio how the computer presents screening results in the lab. (Mark Credico/Las Vegas Review-Journal)Edwin Oh (Mark Credico/Las Vegas Review-Journal)The UNLV scientists for the wastewater analysis program position for an image with Edwin Oh and Wilson Braulio. (Mark Credico/Las Vegas Review-Journal).
On Monday, Edwin Oh led UNLV administrators on a tour through the lab where he and his coworkers study sewage system water.

Because its creation in 2020, Oh's wastewater analysis program has actually been able to discover multiple COVID-19 variants in Southern Nevada and correctly forecast spikes in those variants before cases increased.

Oh and his group likewise have actually found more cases of mpox in Clark County than was reported in the county at the time. The program was able to spot influenza levels in regional schools.

UNLV Executive Vice President and Provost Chris Heavey and Vice President of Research David Hatchett explored the laboratory on the heels of the program's application for a grant that would expand its research study abilities beyond infectious illness.

Oh and his team are looking to expand the variety of the program's testing capabilities with the most recent grant applications to include screening for drug use in regional neighborhoods and schools.

" It's simply a matter of taking the program that a lot of states and cities have actually developed, the wastewater tracking program, and leveraging that facilities to ask a slightly different question," Oh stated about testing for drug use in wastewater.

Hatchett credited the program for its capability to determine the health concerns of local neighborhoods without breaching safeguarded privacy of individuals. Oh highlighted the wastewater research study for the speed of its results and privacy when compared to alternatives like canvassing communities.

" We can get info about the entire Strip and nobody specific requirements to have the finger pointing at them," Oh said.

‘‘ A trendsetter for the future'.

Oh stated he never anticipated to work with wastewater before the program and likewise wouldn't have actually expected the program's level of success.

" This is not what we would have expected. If you informed me three years ago that we would be working on wastewater, I would have chuckled," Oh stated. "Now we've taken this really, really unusual matrix and drawn out truly useful info.".

Oh and his colleagues are likewise seeking to broaden their range to check for illness that they didn't anticipate to find in regional communities, like drug-resistant gonorrhea and candida albicans auris.

As they left the laboratory Monday, the university administrators stated they were proud of what the program has had the ability to achieve so far and look forward to what it will do. Hatchett called the program "a trendsetter for the future.".

" This is type of a design of what we wish to see at a research study university, how the research study helps contribute to society," Heavey stated.

Contact Mark Credico at mcredico@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Instagram @writermark2.