The University of Tokyo · Medicine
Professor Vũ Đức Cảnh's research lab specializes in environmental virology and water safety, focusing on the development and application of advanced molecular techniques to assess the infectivity and removal of pathogenic viruses in water. The lab investigates capsid integrity-based qPCR methods—such as EMA, PMA, and CDDP—to distinguish between intact (potentially infectious) and inactivated viral particles in diverse water matrices, including wastewater, surface water, and drinking water. A key research direction involves improving virus concentration and detection methods to overcome interference from natural organic matter, such as humic acids, and evaluating the performance of novel adsorbents like porous carbons for virus removal. The lab also contributes to risk assessment of waterborne viral pathogens through innovative molecular and physicochemical approaches.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genomes have been detected in wastewater worldwide. However, the assessment of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity in wastewater has been limited due to the stringent requirements of biosafety level 3. The main objective of this study is to investigate the applicability of capsid integrity RT-qPCR for the selective detection of intact SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. Three capsid integrity reagents, namely ethidium monoazide (EMA, 0.1-100 μM), propidium m
Capsid integrity (RT-)qPCR has recently been developed to discriminate between intact forms from inactivated forms of viruses, but its applicability to identifying integrity of viruses in drinking water has remained limited. In this study, we investigated the application of capsid integrity (RT-)qPCR using cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum (CDDP) with sodium deoxycholate (SD) pretreatment (SD-CDDP-(RT-)qPCR) to detect intact viruses in surface water and tap water. A total of 63 water samples (surface
Waterborne diseases caused by pathogenic human viruses are a major public health concern. To control the potential risk of viral infection through contaminated waters, a rapid, reliable tool to assess the infectivity of pathogenic viruses is required. Recently, an advanced approach (i.e., capsid integrity (RT-)qPCR) was developed to discriminate intact viruses (potentially infectious) from inactivated viruses. In this approach, samples were pretreated with capsid integrity reagents (e.g., monoaz
Abstract It is important to evaluate the removal of enteric viruses by drinking water treatment processes so that viral infection risk can be assessed and managed. However, evaluating the removal of enteric viruses by full-scale treatment processes can be challenging due to the low numbers of viruses and the presence of substances in the water samples that inhibit detection. In this study, we evaluated the removal of pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) by microfiltration (MF) and slow sand filtrati
To assess the potential risk of viral infection through drinking water, a rapid and effective method to quantify pathogenic viruses is necessary. Ethidium monoazide (EMA) combined with reverse transcription qPCR (EMA-RT-qPCR) is a currently widely accepted method to assess the integrity of viruses. However, this technique can be hampered by humic acids which are co-concentrated during virus concentration processes (VCPs). Co-concentration of four commercially available humic acids (Ald, Wa, Na,
Porous carbons are well-known efficient adsorbents for a variety of organic and inorganic pollutants; however, they have difficulty in virus removal. In this study, novel porous carbons (NPCs) (NPC-A, NPC-B, and NPC-C) derived from rice husks were compared with commercially available activated carbons (ACs) for their ability to remove MS2 bacteriophages (MS2) in a batch experiment. NPC-A was produced by the silica removal process. NPC-B was prepared with an additional steam activation applied to
UV-LED treatment at 265 nm was more efficient than UV-LED treatment at 280 nm in inactivating both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. Capsid damage is not important in virus inactivation by UV-LEDs for both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses.
Wastewater pollution is one of the main causes of waterborne diseases (e.g., diarrheal diseases) because wastewater commonly contains a wide range of pathogenic microorganisms, notably human enteric viruses. Monitoring multiple pathogenic viruses in waters simultaneously is impractical and expensive, so monitoring through virus indicators is essential to ensure water safety and quality. Recently, pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) was found as one of the most prevalent viruses in the human gut mic
Chlorine disinfection is commonly applied to inactivate pathogenic viruses in drinking water treatment plants. However, the role of water quality in chlorine disinfection of viruses has not been investigated thoughtfully. In this study, we investigated the inactivation efficiency of coxsackievirus B5 (CVB5) by free chlorine using actual water samples collected from four full-scale drinking water treatment plants in Japan under strict turbidity management (less than 0.14 NTU) over a 12-month peri
It is important to determine the infectivity of viruses in waters and foodstuffs so that the risk of viral infection can be assessed. The use of viability markers such as propidium monoazide (PMA), ethidium monoazide (EMA) and more recently cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum (CDDP) has been applied to discriminate between infectious and inactivated viruses by (RT-)qPCR (viability (RT-)qPCR). However, the efficiency of viability (RT-)qPCR in eliminating inactivated viruses can be influenced by viral ge
Human bocavirus (HBoV) and Streptococcus pneumoniae pose significant public health concerns, particularly for children under age five. While wastewater-based epidemiology has proven successful in monitoring the prevalence of infectious diseases in communities, its potential for surveillance of HBoV and S. pneumoniae has not been thoroughly explored. We first optimized the Efficient and Practical virus Identification System with Enhanced Sensitivity for Membrane (EPISENS-M) method, which was orig
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