Passive sampling technologies: A tool for wastewater analysis and wastewater-based population epidemiology

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is a concept were the collective urine of a whole community can be assessed through wastewater influent, to supply us with valuable information about chemical exposure, lifestyle, public health and wellbeing. To date, WBE studies use 24hr composite samples collected with an autosampler. In these studies, they aim to measure a large proportion of the total population and therefore focus on big cities or wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) serving large communities. Doing so, smaller communities in rural or remote regions are rarely included and their valuable information to help create a better understanding in social, demographic and economic correlation to chemical exposure/consumption is not utilised. A tool that might help us include these sites is passive sampling. Therefore, the aim of this PhD is to develop, optimize and calibrate new passive sampling technologies for the detection of biomarkers in wastewater influent. We hope that these passive samplers advance our capabilities, which would expand our knowledge in the WBE field.

Please note this is a PhD Student Confirmation seminar.

Rory completed his Bachelor of Applied Science with a main field of study Biology and Medical laboratory research, and a specialisation in Zoology in 2015 at the HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht. He holds a Master Biomedical Sciences, programme Toxicology and Environmental Health from the University of Utrecht, for which he undertook his 6-month research project at QAEHS on calibrating passive samplers to measure UV-Filters in the aquatic environment. Rory’s PhD will focus on the development of passive samplers which are used for wastewater based epidemiology, to measure chemical exposure in remote areas.