MARTEC-SAB-Viral-Sampler-Variants

The COVID-19 Pandemic has challenged health systems worldwide. Infectious disease outbreaks are a global burden that is expected to worsen due to different environmental and socioeconomic phenomena. Classic epidemiological approaches to monitor the spread of diseases are highly resource-dependent and fail to detect most asymptomatic patients. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is an efficient community-wide surveillance tool. However, significant challenges remain in the sample recovery process due to the complex composition of sewage, as well as to the characteristics of the available virus recovery methods. In addition, autosampler technology is expensive and in some cases inaccessible to low-middle income countries. Therefore, MARTEC-SAB aims to expand its operations through the use of nano-structured polymeric membrane-based passive samplers to monitor viral pathogens and their variants through a low cost WBE system. This solution could be replicated globally to ease the prediction and prevention of disease outbreaks, such as new COVID-19 variants, in under-resourced regions.

MARTEC-SAB aims to provide cost-effective solutions to monitor viral pathogens in under-resourced communities to prevent and tackle infectious disease outbreaks. In 2016, infectious diseases accounted for one-fifth of all registered deaths globally. It has been estimated that between 5 to 12 million deaths occur every year due to waterborne diseases alone, and that these pose a global economic loss of ~12 billion USD/year. Traditional surveillance tools are mainly based on individual screenings or sentinel surveillance, therefore, presymptomatic and asymptomatic patients tend to be underestimated; the Covid-19 pandemic has shown the need for early detection methods that consider both groups. Furthermore, conventional methods, e.g. RT-PCR, rely heavily on trained personnel and expensive equipment. Therefore, scarce-resourced regions suffer to reduce the spread of diseases like COVID-19 and its new variants (α, β, γ, δ). In addition, WBE usually requires direct grab-sampling, which makes samples vulnerable to misrepresent the conditions of the population. 

In summary, the employment of passive samplers in WBE is intended to: improve the early detection of disease outbreaks in vulnerable regions, enhance the detection of asymptomatic patients, and increase the sample concentration to facilitate the detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants, while democratizing the access to this technology. 

MARTEC-SAB aims to implement passive samplers to expand its current WBE operations. These are nanostructured polymeric membranes that are aimed to improve pathogen recovery, as well as the implementation of appropriate spatial and temporal sampling strategies for the monitoring of infectious disease outbreaks through wastewater-based epidemiology. Since April 2020, MARTEC-SAB has been monitoring  the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. In September 2020, it started to monitor the virus at the community of Tecnologico de Monterrey across its 37 campuses and 4 other locations in Mexico, through traditional WBE as part of the institution’s reopening strategy. The project aims to improve its technology by scaling-up the implementation of passive sampling techniques to detect and quantify the load of viral pathogens in wastewater, specifically of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, and to study their trends in the circulation, as well as to develop this solution to aid in democratizing the access to WBE in LMIC.

In April 2020, MARTEC-SAB started to monitor the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, with a population of  5.5 million. Currently, MARTEC-SAB has been used to monitor the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in 37 different campuses of Tecnologico de Monterrey across Mexico, as part of the university’s national reopening strategy. The project has served to protect our community from potential outbreaks throughout the return of in-person activities. It has been a useful tool for the detection of asymptomatic cases of COVID19, which have been confirmed through nasal PCR tests days after the viral shedding into wastewater was first detected in the wastewater of our communities.

The implementation of passive sampling techniques would considerably improve viral detection by concentrating more nucleic acids in a single sample, which would increase and facilitate the detection of the virus and even its possible variants with a single PCR test. Instead of sampling at a specific time, this passive sampler would also make it possible to follow up the communities for an extended period of time (e.g., 24h, 72h) to study the trends in the circulation and obtain more representative samples. In addition to this concentrated sample, the device would facilitate the detection of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 (variants α, β, γ, δ), that are increasing in low income communities, and have become of clinical importance due to their potential health impacts, speed of transmission, changes in the severity of the disease, susceptibility to therapeutic agents, and their vaccine-induced immunity evasion. These new variants have been detected by using high throughput technologies such as next generation sequencing, but we aim to use the enriched samples obtained through our passive samplers to accomplish RT-qPCR detection with a customized panel designed for these variants.   

Scaling up the production and implementation of WBE through passive samplers will be of great importance in the near future for Tecnologico de Monterrey since a complete (hybrid) in-person return of activities is planned within August-December 2021. The deployment of a WBE Passive Sampling system would highly aid to protect our community (more than 120 thousand people across the country between students and workers) from potential outbreaks through the evidence-based decision making process that we have established nationally. Hopefully, the device would also ease the implementation of WBE in other communities in the country, such as universities, municipalities, and companies.

Our WBE Passive Sampling system aims to provide an affordable solution that benefits all people, especially vulnerable populations, in order to prevent and control infectious disease outbreaks. Current surveillance methods require specialized technology or trained personnel; our device is intended to be a simple and cost-effective solution for every country’s needs. Even though the target population is LMICs, the device is an excellent complement for current WBE methodologies in other regions. The passive sampler is a tool that can strengthen global surveillance methods, especially in regions where technology or economic resources are a limiting factor to implement traditional epidemiological strategies.

MARTEC-SAB has been monitoring the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the municipality of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico since April 2020. Later on, in September 2020, MARTEC-SAB expanded its operations to the 37 different campuses of Tecnologico de Monterrey across the country, as part of the university’s national reopening strategy. The project has served to ensure a safe-return to in-person activities. Currently, passive sampling technology is being developed by MARTEC-SAB in order to improve the implementation of WBE strategies in the community, as well as to democratize the access to WBE for resource-constrained regions.

The implementation of the nanostructured polymeric membrane-based passive sampler in MARTEC-SAB’s current WBE operations would significantly improve the recovery of viral pathogens and their RNA adsorption, which would facilitate the detection of viral variants through a single PCR test due to its higher stability and concentration. Furthermore, this technology would ensure the accurate spatial and temporal sampling of sewage without the need of specialized equipment (e.g. autosamplers) or personnel, which would in turn have a big impact on increasing the accessibility of WBE practices in LMICs. Finally, this novel passive sampler is based on biodegradable components to avoid negative environmental impacts in the communities that will employ the solution.

Our MARTEC-SAB project has been monitoring the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater samples from the municipality of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico since April 2020. In September 2020, MARTEC-SAB expanded its operations to the 37 different campuses of Tecnologico de Monterrey across the country, as part of the university’s national reopening strategy. The project started serving 2000 people, by now it has served around 12 thousand people to ensure a safe-return to in-person activities. This strategy will impact more than 120 thousand people who work and/or study in our university in a year. If this expansion continues to low-middle income communities, other universities and schools, it will impact more than 32 million people and ensure a safe return to their in-person activities.

Some of the measurable indicators that are currently used in the product and that are expected to continue to be used as it grows are: (1) the number of customers of the product; (2) the number of samples processed and their associated populations, which impacts the identification of COVID-19 outbreaks; (3) the continuity of on-site activities of the organizations that acquire the service, which improves the economic activity of the communities; and (4) the continuity of on-site education for educational institutions.

This is a spin-off of the Sustainable and Applied Biotechnology research group of Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus Monterrey. 

Full-time staff: 5
Prof. Roberto Parra Saldívar

Dr. J. Eduardo Sosa Hernández

Dra. Mariel Araceli Oyervides Muñoz

Dra. Elda M. Melchor Martínez

Dr. Manuel Martínez Ruiz

Part-time staff: 2

Sofia Lucero

Brando Morales

Students: 3
Mildred Gissel Jiménez Rodríguez

Fernando Silva Lance

Dora Alejandra Medina Salazar

SAB group started a research line in 2017 with the integration of a consortia of researchers for wastewater monitoring. The consortium won a GSCO fund to implement the project “Facilitating Evidence-based Decision-making in Global Sustainability” in 2018. Within the project Dr. Rolf Halden from ASU led the efforts of the consortia, Drs. Leon Barron, Fiona Regan and Roberto Parra, from KCL, DCU and TEC respectively. The project measured several health and activity parameters.

Dr. Parra is Research Professor of Tecnológico de Monterrey (SNI 3) and has done research stays at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Langer Lab (2018), Harvard University (2017), a postdoctoral stay at the Universidad de Westminster, (2008). He is leader of the SAB from the Biotechnology Center - FEMSA; 200+ papers, 5,600+ cites, H-index 40, i10-index 107. His research in water is extensive with several papers and projects for the detection of contaminants, pathogens, and treatment. He is leader of MARTEC projects for SARS-CoV-2 monitoring through wastewater.

Dr Eduardo is Postdoctoral researcher of Tecnológico de Monterrey (SNI 1). He is a young researcher and has been involved in the research line since 2018. He is coordinator of MARTEC projects. 

Dr Mariel is Postdoctoral researcher of Tecnológico de Monterrey. She is a young researcher and is responsible for the laboratory operation at MARTEC.

Dr. Elda is Postdoctoral researcher of Tecnológico de Monterrey (SNI Candidate). She is a young researcher and has been involved in the research line since 2018. She is responsible for the laboratory operation at MARTEC.

As part of Tecnologico de Monterrey, our group aims to promote diversity, equity and inclusiveness. Different strategies, protocols and guides have been developed to promote a culture of equality and inclusion in our institution. Our projects are governed by a principle of equality and non-discrimination, as well as through our values of empathy and inclusion. 

More information about yearly reports and protocols can be found here: https://tec.mx/es/dignidad-hum...

Solve is a great platform that has catalyzed multiple solutions in its previous editions. Being selected as a Solver team would aid MARTEC-SAB by gaining access to funding, mentorship and strategic advice from experts, as well as joining an outstanding network. These tools would help the project to tackle its financial barrier, however, more importantly, they would help the team to strategize and achieve our projected growth goals. 

The deployment of our WBE Passive Sampling system would highly benefit of getting support from experts in product-market fit and strategy, since we aim to expand to a broad range of communities and thorough assessment needs to be carried out before these are implemented, especially since we aim to democratize access to this technology in resource-constrained regions.

MARTEC-SAB would also benefit from receiving support and guidance to find new sources of funding and opportunities to pitch to investors, as well as guidance on developing the most beneficial financial strategy to ensure the sustainability of the project while potentiating its social impact. 

Finally, as our project grows, we aim to expand our client base both in Mexico and abroad, therefore, support in the areas of product and service distribution would highly benefit our project. 

We want to partner in the short-term with TecMed, a research group from Tecnologico de Monterrey that is currently developing a strategy for targeted PCR tests in potential infected individuals. This would highly complement both of our projects. 

We also seek to partner with other research groups to collaborate in the developing and application of technology that could benefit the implementation of affordable WBE and other systems that could aid to prevent and mitigate the spread of infectious diseases in LMIC. Collaborating with MIT faculty and other Solve initiatives with similar goals would be ideal.