14th March 2018
Education Centre and Main Hall, Royal Geographical Society, London

The VIRAQUA and RESERVOIRS projects are joining together to provide a forum for the discussion of viruses and antimicrobial resistant bacteria in UK waters. Prominent researchers from both …

By Luke Hillary , Bangor University

While viruses can escape wastewater treatment plants through treated water, this is not their only route to freedom. Sludge is the solid waste produced from our sewage system and this is often used on …

 By Dr Myra Hosmillo, Cambridge University

Human norovirus is the leading viral gastrointestinal pathogen worldwide causing diarrhoea and vomiting, known as the “two-bucket disease”. It is highly contagious and it only takes as few as 18 viral particles to infect …

Connaire Jenkins, a biochemistry student from Surrey University, has recently started his placement year with the Food Safety group at Cefas in which he will gain valuable experience of working in both a research laboratory and a statutory testing laboratory. …

By Dr Kata Farkas, Bangor University and Dr Evelien Adriaenssens, University of Liverpool

The use of metaviromics-based methods allows us the identification of novel virus species and pathogenic strains without any information on the target. In this novel approach, genetic …

We asked our undergraduate intern student Harry Riley about his experiences working with the VIRAQUA team:

“I’ve had a really good time working on the VIRAQUA project over the past month, it’s given me great experience in lab and field …

The use of coliphage (viruses that infect E. coli bacteria) is becoming widely accepted as a suitable indicator of enteric virus contamination in environmental samples including water and bivalve shellfish. Cefas use coliphage as a surrogate for norovirus infectivity, and …

VIRAQUA participated in the Bangor Science Festival on March 11th 2017, hosted by Bangor University as part of British Science Week.  We had several ‘hands on’ activities on offer including pathogen painting and bugs in bivalves which we used to …

We are delighted to announce that our M-degree student has passed with DISTINCTION!  Vanessa Kienmoser joined the VIRAQUA team in September 2016 for her M- degree research project, focusing on the quantification of, and optimal extraction method for enteric viruses …

The second paper to be publish from the VIRAQUA project has been published and is now available to download (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12560-017-9293-5).  In this study, the authors developed and validated two multiplex qRT-PCR assays for aquatic sediment and shellfish samples …