As part of the new Global Water Security and Sustainability Hub activities, Kishor provided training in portable next generation sequencing to 15 trainees from the Newcastle University Medical School in Malaysia (NUMed) and the University of Technology Malaysia (UTM).

Maria Valdivia-Garcia’s research on climate change impacts on drinking water quality has been published in Scientific Reports. Her work shows that an increase in mean summer temperatures will likely increase the formation of disinfection by-products in drinking water treatment, especially for regions with extensive peat land in drinking water catchments. Such an increase has major implications to potable water around the world, either an increased health risk or increased water treatment costs to maintain an equivalent quality potable supply. Article

This month we have two academic visitors from Syria learning from Kishor and Adrian about molecular microbiology. Together with an MSc student from Indonesia, they tracked fecal pollution in the River Team, once known as “The Gut” by the locals, due to uncontrolled domestic and industrial wastewater discharges. It has now been considerably improved, but remains affected by stormwater overflows. The Syrian visits are supported by CARA, a charity that has supported academics and scientists at risk for more than 80 years.