Center for Water and Health | United States Research

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United States Research

Identification and Enumeration of Pathogens in Drinking Water: Center researchers are using polymerase chain reaction and mass spectrometry technologies to develop a microbial isolation and detection protocol for quantitative and qualitative identification of waterborne pathogens such as E.coli, norovirus and Cryptosporidium.

Chemical and Microbial Assessment of Sewage Spills: Center researchers are evaluating three organic wastewater compounds as markers—caffeine, triclosan and triclocarban— to trace microbial contaminants from sewage spills to surface waters. Based on an initial analysis of samples from three Baltimore area watersheds, triclosan and triclocarban were found to be more effective than the traditional marker caffeine in tracking the presence of enterococci, fecal coliforms and E.coli in surface waters.

Research Projects

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Click on the projects map to learn about the Center’s current work—from developing simple techniques to identify minute pathogenic viruses that escape conventional means of detection to assessing the human health risk posed by a parasite that infects Chesapeake Bay oysters to testing in-home water treatments for isolated populations who lack safe drinking water.

Collaborators

The Johns Hopkins Center for Water and Health welcomes inquiries from foundations, public agencies and private sector concerns with an interest in forging partnerships to translate Center research on water and public health into innovative, evidence-based applications.