About

In today’s interconnected world, infectious diseases pose a serious threat to lives and livelihoods everywhere. Due to the presence of harmful viruses in the air, water, and soil, environmental surveillance has become an important tool to protect public health. By identifying harmful viruses early, environmental surveillance can help policymakers and health professionals quickly respond to the diseases they cause. 

In response to the need for environmental surveillance, the Lungfish team developed methods to quickly and efficiently sequence data from both air and wastewater samples, enabling the processing of large datasets in a short amount of time. The Lungfish team, led by Dr. Dave O’Connor, Dr. Shelby O’Connor, and Dr. Marc Johnson, started developing the foundation for Lungfish at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. They initially applied their expertise in sequencing viruses to follow SARS-CoV-2 variants through time and space, and then focused on environmental sampling to detect and sequence viruses out of SARS-CoV-2 samples from air and wastewater. The wastewater data that the Lungfish team collects allows us to see trends while the team’s air sampling data tells us what is happening at a particular point in time.

Today, the Lungfish team is using environmental sampling in air and wastewater to identify an array of pathogens, including viruses and bacteria, in urban and rural settings both in the United States and in other countries. The Lungfish project has four core areas: CityPath, InfinitePath, SproutingPath, and NaturePath. 

• CityPath focuses on environmental surveillance in congregate settings. CityPath familiarizes different groups with the methods of environmental sampling to facilitate its use as a reliable, cost-effective method of surveillance and risk mitigation.
• InfinitePath involves metagenomic analysis of pathogens detected in air and wastewater. 
• SproutingPath focuses on knowledge transfer and education through academic course development and professional training. 
• NaturePath conducts waterway monitoring and wildlife disease surveillance.