Symposium set for COVID- 19 saliva, hospital and sewage tests
Scientists will share information on COVID- 19 saliva, hospital, and sewage surveillance tests— as well as the Healthy Davis Together program — at a UC Davis virtual symposium set for 5 p. m., Wednesday, Jan. 13.
Chancellor Gary May will deliver the opening remarks. UCD scientists Richard Michelmore, Nam Tram and Heather Bischel will explain the UCD COVID tests and answer questions, said UCD distinguished professor Walter Leal, who is organizing and moderating the symposium.
The public is invited to submit advance questions and also may ask questions during the symposium via the Zoom chat.
“This symposium will yield important information that everyone should know,” said Leal, a chemical ecologist with the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and a former chair of the Department of Entomology, now the Department of Entomology and Nematology. Registration is underway at https:// bit. ly/ 2Li9pnV.
“Registration is required for the symposium, even if you cannot attend the live presentation but are interested in retrieving the symposium video later,” Leal said. This is the fourth in a series of COVID19 symposiums that he has organized and moderated since April 23. A query from one of his students prompted the Jan. 13 symposium.
Free COVID- 19 saliva tests are being administered by appointment to the Davis community— those who live in Davis or work at UC Davis — at testing kiosks on campus. It is a rapid, comprehensive laboratorydeveloped test that detects whether a person is currently infected with the coronavirus. The UC Davis Genome Center processes the salvia samples. Technically, the test uses a high throughput, realtime, quantitative polymerase chain reaction protocol run on machines repurposed from the agricultural genetics industry.
The symposium also will cover how the COVID- 19 tests administered in a hospital emergency room or at bedside can distinguish between whether a patient has COVID- 19 or the flu. In addition, wastewater surveillance tests, also known as sewage tests, are underway to detect the virus.
“Healthy Davis Together” is a program partnering UCD with the city of Davis to prevent the spread of the virus and “to facilitate a coordinated and gradual return to regular city activities and reintegration of UC Davis students back into the Davis community.”
Michelmore, a UCD distinguished professor, directs the Genome Center, and holds joint appointments with the College of Biological Sciences, School of Medicine, and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Tram is an associate clinical professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine who specializes in clinical chemistry and point- ofcare. Bischel is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.