New Wastewater Sampling Technology Could Provide DAF With Tools to Track Infection

A new device developed in the private sector could help the Department of the Air Force (DAF) better protect its personnel against infectious disease, and the Tech Connect program was instrumental in bringing it to DAF’s attention. 

DAF has a keen interest in monitoring and studying the wastewater produced at Air Force and Space Force bases across the United States, as such monitoring can detect bacteria beginning to circulate in a human population. This information can provide epidemiologists with a key “early warning system” regarding the potential spread of disease at a given site. 

Sampling and processing wastewater can often be difficult and expensive. Current collection methods require personnel to collect several liters of water, which must then be transported to an offsite location to be processed and studied. In addition to being labor-intensive and cost due to the transportation and tedious concentration process of wastewater involved, portions of target molecules in a sample can also be lost in transit due to stability issues, thereby affecting the quality and accuracy of the results. 

Guild BioSciences, a business unit of Guild Associates, Inc., has been working to develop an innovative device designed to make sampling simpler and easier. The device is small, portable, and easily deployable in the field. It is a user-friendly tool that enables rapid, on-site sample concentration using pressure-driven filtration to concentrate water samples automatically without needing specialized laboratory equipment or specially trained staff. These samples can then be analyzed onsite, which helps produce results more quickly and more accurately. According to Guild BioSciences, this process of concentration reduces samples to volumes as low as five milliliters (mL) while preserving sample integrity. This process radically curtails the time and labor involved, enabling fast downstream detection of biological threats. By reducing the time, effort, and equipment required for sample concentration, Guild BioSciences’s automatic sample concentrator enables early threat detection. The device makes wastewater monitoring faster, more reliable, and more practical for bio-surveillance activities in support of force health protection and mission readiness, with minimal impact on operations. 

One member of the Guild BioSciences team was formerly affiliated with the Air Force and knew that the service maintains a serious interest in being able to monitor wastewater produced at its installations. Guild BioSciences therefore contacted the Tech Connect program, located at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), to explore a potential collaboration. The Tech Connect program was established to assess innovative ideas submitted by external entities and route them to appropriate points of contact within DAF. AFRL is the primary DAF organization dedicated to scientific research and development and is often the “first stop” for DAF’s engagement with innovative technological capabilities originating in academia and the private sector. 

Tech Connect staff assessed the idea and, finding it promising, coordinated initial communication and interaction between Guild BioSciences and health experts within DAF. These conversations led to a conference call and then an in-person gathering. These meetings increased DAF’s interest in the device, and DAF asked Guild BioSciences to begin developing “composite” sampling capabilities. The first iteration of the device uses a “grab” methodology, which analyzes a water sample collected at a single moment in time. Composite sampling collects samples over time – for example, at the rate of seventy-five milliliters per hour over the course of a day – to provide a more representative sample of water composition. Guild BioSciences’s work developing this capability is ongoing, as are detailed analyses of how its technology compares – in terms of cost, labor and time savings – to devices already available on the market. Success in developing the technology could help DAF keep its personnel safer, healthier, and more focused on the important work ahead. 

The device is quite versatile and has many other potential applications beyond those identified by DAF, as it can be used to sample water from streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, oceans, or any other body of water. For example, biologists could sample ocean water to study the environmental DNA (eDNA) strains contained in the water and thereby analyze the long-term and large-scale movement of microorganisms, plants, and animals over time. Likewise, toxicologists could study water samples to test for the presence of pesticides and other chemicals, which could help prevent surrounding human populations from being poisoned. In sum, testing could help maintain water ecosystem health by providing non-invasive, rapid, and highly sensitive monitoring of aquatic biodiversity, pathogens, and pollution. Using this data would enable early detection of invasive species, accurate tracking and monitoring of endangered populations, and real-time assessment of habitat restoration efforts, ensuring proactive, data-driven management of freshwater and marine environments. 

Furthermore, researchers who are interested in hunting bacteriophages can use this device to process samples more effectively. Bacteriophages – viruses that infect and destroy bacteria – are found in nature alongside bacteria. Each strain of bacteriophage is unique and is a “close match” to its corresponding bacterium. After identifying and characterizing a bacteriophage, researchers can then use them in a process called “phage therapy” to treat bacterial infections in humans, providing an additional tool to help prevent and control the spread of diseases – particularly, drug-resistant bacteria that cannot be treated with existing antibiotics. 

Indeed, because water is so ubiquitous and is so important to our daily lives, the number of potential use cases for the device is vast indeed. 

About AFRL 

AFRL is DAF’s primary scientific research and development center. AFRL leads in the discovery, development, and delivery of cutting-edge technologies supporting our air, space, and cyberspace forces. AFRL’s work encompasses a varied portfolio of science and technology topics ranging from fundamental to advanced research. For more information, please visit http://afrl.af.mil. 

About Tech Connect 

The Tech Connect program allows external entities to submit innovative ideas for consideration by Air Force and Space Force experts. Program staff review and assess submitted ideas and route them to appropriate experts, often staying engaged throughout the collaborative process. The program allows the Air Force and Space Force to advance key capabilities more rapidly. For more information, please visit http://airforcetechconnect.org.