VIRUS TRACKERS
GVSU lab analyzes pathogens in wastewater to support public health monitoring of COVID-19, other diseases
STORY BY PEG WEST
PHOTOS BY KENDRA STANLEY-MILLS
In September 2023, Grand Valley researchers analyzing Kent County wastewater for the COVID-19 virus noticed a novel change from one of their local samples.
It turns out the findings were a harbinger of a significant shift in the pandemic.
The researchers in GVSU’s Molecular Monitoring for Health and Environment Lab had received their typical analysis of samples from a collaborating University of Missouri researcher, who conducts virus sequencing to identify mutations and other information about the virus contained in the wastewater.
This time, the SARS-CoV-2 virus from Grand Valley’s lab showed — for the first time anywhere — the prevalence of a variant that until then had only been sparingly seen in clinical samples isolated from patients.
A few weeks later, this variant was so prevalent that it received a name: JN.1. The World Health Organization designated it a “Variant of Interest” because of its rapid spread.
And it was the strain that dominated as the cause of COVID-19 infections in late 2023 and into 2024, receiving regular mentions in the media.
This crucial discovery by the lab led by Cell and Molecular Biology Department faculty members Sheila Blackman and Pei-Lan Tsou was a significant development for a research project that started as a pilot in 2020 and has expanded as the value of wastewater monitoring for infectious disease was increasingly recognized.
Today, the lab of student and faculty researchers continues to team with its longtime partner, the Kent County Health Department, to test wastewater in the broader community and expand the number of monitored viruses.
A LAB CREATED TO MEET AN EMERGENT NEED
The Molecular Monitoring for Health and Environment Lab was created at GVSU to join a network of laboratories across Michigan that had begun to monitor wastewater and provide critical data for public health officials tracking the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Part of the lab is housed in the Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences, the other part at the health department.
Blackman and Tsou said they jumped at the opportunity to be part of that network.
The laboratory setting also provided another crucial support for students during the pandemic, Tsou said, “Our students were having trouble finding internships because everything was shut down.”
This lab work, which also had a community and public health component, was providing that necessary experience that students needed when they searched for jobs.
GVSU QUICKLY BECOMES A VITAL PUBLIC HEALTH PARTNER
Work initially started as a partnership with Rick Rediske, a retired researcher from the Annis Water Resources Institute, who worked with the Ottawa County Health Department before the lab quickly began to offer support, and then a full partnership, to the Kent County Health Department, Blackman said.
Continued funding through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has helped deepen the collaboration with the Kent County Health Department and allowed for the targeted monitoring that is helping community stakeholders with concentrated populations, such as in educational or health care settings, officials said.
Those with the health department quickly realized early on that they didn’t have the capacity to do the detailed laboratory work that was required for the wastewater monitoring, said Drew Salisbury, supervising sanitarian for the Environmental Health Division. The Grand Valley researchers were crucial to the operation, he said.
“Without them, we wouldn’t have even continued past the pilot project,” Salisbury said. “Since then, I feel like it’s just grown exponentially. We’re generating a ton of data and surveillance metrics that we just wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for this project.”
“To be able to do something that actually does help people or at least provides information that can be useful later is really cool. It definitely feels like I’m part of something that’s a little bigger than myself.”
Sara Sietsema
Cell and molecular
biology student
A CRITICAL COMMUNITY VIRUS HEALTH RESOURCE
A key way the program has grown is working with those in the community who manage concentrated populations by testing wastewater so they can be aware of virus prevalence. Besides COVID-19, the virus surveillance also includes influenza and norovirus at more than 20 sites each week, Salisbury said.
The health department shares with these community stakeholders the information that has been collected and analyzed by Grand Valley researchers. This helps these managers to, for instance, boost sanitation and other virus mitigation measures if the data shows a higher level of pathogens in the wastewater, Salisbury said.
While this data is individually helpful to the stakeholders, it also helps paint a critical larger picture of virus health in the county, Salisbury said, noting in particular, the downward shift in reporting of COVID-19 cases.
“It gives us an overview of the level of the disease that we don’t get anymore because people aren’t necessarily going to a physician or the hospital to get tested,” Salisbury said. “We can really see the rise and fall throughout the year with our COVID case counts just based off of the surveillance.”
That surveillance starts with the Grand Valley researchers extracting and analyzing information from the wastewater samples collected at sites by trusted plumbers and at wastewater treatment plants, always with documentation to ensure a proper chain of command to avoid contamination, Blackman said.
The extracted samples are then moved to the health department where analysts use special equipment to detect the virus under quality assurance monitoring by Austin Schian, the lab’s manager, who then reports the results to MDHHS and those managing concentrated populations.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING, COMMUNITY IMPACT
Students have played a central role in the work since the beginning. Tsou said a strength of the lab is training students to be part of the process, learning the technical and teamwork skills along with understanding the privacy and ethical considerations of their work.
“Our heart is about training our students,” Tsou said. “Having our students involved and seeing them grow from this process, learning the latest things and seeing their impact as a scientist on society, is philosophically important for an educational institution,” Tsou said.
Hannah Bekius, who is pursuing a master’s degree in cell and molecular biology said the epidemiology aspect of the work is fulfilling while providing hands-on training on techniques as well as honing problem-solving skills.
“I find it really interesting to get results and see the real-world application of the theoretical material we are taught in classes,” said Bekius, adding that it is gratifying that her work ultimately can have an impact on the community.
Cell and molecular biology student Sara Sietsema echoed how important it is to work on impactful research beyond experiments in classrooms.
“To be able to do something that actually does help people or at least provides information that can be useful later is really cool,“ Sietsema said. “It definitely feels like I’m part of something that's a little bigger than myself.”
Blackman said the evolving laboratory also presented a learning opportunity for faculty members as they navigated governmental regulations, record-keeping and other considerations tied to the public-facing work.
Cell and molecular biology faculty members Pei-Lan Tsou, left, and Sheila Blackman lead GVSU’s Molecular Monitoring for Health and Environment Lab.
Cell and molecular biology faculty members Pei-Lan Tsou, left, and Sheila Blackman lead GVSU’s Molecular Monitoring for Health and Environment Lab.
But she noted that, ultimately, this work is about molecules, the basis for all living things, and it made sense for faculty members from the Cell and Molecular Biology Department to run the lab.
“This was an opportunity to work on a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic as a scientist,“ Blackman said.
Mark Staves, chair of the Cell and Molecular Biology Department, said the laboratory and its growth under GVSU’s molecular biologists has had a strong impact on the community and he can see the collaboration with the health department deepen; for instance, there has been some preliminary work between GVSU and the health department on mosquito monitoring.
Staves said he is particularly proud of how this lab has showcased the best of Grand Valley and its mission.
“It’s important for students to have this opportunity and for our faculty to be able to use their expertise,” said Staves, who added, “Pei-Lan and Sheila are absolutely trained in what you need to know to do this work.”
