Wastewater Surveillance Unit

The Wastewater Surveillance (WS) Unit within the Bacterial Pathogens, AMR and Wastewater Division at NMLB-Winnipeg undertakes novel surveillance and research to support population level surveillance of pathogens of public health interest. The laboratory is actively involved in SARS-CoV-2 surveillance with research activities directed toward validating a wider array of targets, including viral/bacterial/fungal pathogens and antimicrobial resistance markers. The WS unit acts as a national coordinating and knowledge transfer body sharing the best practices for analytic methods with federal, provincial, and private sector stakeholders.

In collaboration with external partners, the WS unit at NMLB strives to develop a Canada-wide network of wastewater surveillance sites to leverage existing provincial, municipal, and private sector infrastructure and expertise to establish and maintain a robust early warning system for pathogenic threats to Canadians. Unifying experts across a multitude of scientific disciplines aids in effective communication of large-scale epidemiological trend data and analyses.