Announcements

2024-05-30

CUBE was part of a successful grant application to Genome Canada’s Genomics Applications Partnership Program (GAPP). Read the full press release here.

Publications

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in schools using built environment testing in Ottawa, Canada: A multi-facility prospective surveillance study

Nisha Thampi, Tasha Burhunduli, Jamie Strain, Ashley Raudanskis, Jason A. Moggridge, Aaron Hinz et al. PLoS ONE. 2024. 19(5): e0300397.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0300397
Environmental surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 for COVID-19 outbreak detection in hospital: a single-centre prospective study

Prachi Ray, Bryant Lim, Katarina Zorcic, Jennie Johnstone, Aaron Hinz, Alexandra M.A. Hicks, Alex Wong, Derek R. MacFadden, Caroline Nott, Lucas Castellani, Rees Kassen, Michael Fralick. Infection Prevention in Practice. 2024. 6(2).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infpip.2024.100353
Predicting COVID-19 cases across a large university campus using complementary built environment and wastewater surveillance approaches

Aaron Hinz, Jason A Moggridge, Hanna Ke, Alexandra M. A. Hicks, Evgueni Doukhanine, Michael Fralick, Laura Hug, Derek MacFadden, Hebah Mejbel, Caroline Nott, Ashley Raudanskis, Nisha Thampi, Alex Wong, Rees Kassen. MedRxiv [preprint]. 2024.

https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.24.23300025
Detection of COVID-19 Outbreaks in Hospitals Using Built Environment Testing for SARS-CoV-2

Lucas Castellani, Derek MacFadden, Jason Moggridge, Bryan Feenstra, Makenna Wiebe, Sawith Abey, Evgueni Doukhanine, Michael Fralick, Aaron Hinz, Laura Hug, Nisha Thampi, Alex Wong, Rees Kassen, Caroline Nott. Open Forum Infectious Diseases. 2023. Volume 10, Issue Supplement 2.

https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofad500.1925
Detection of Covid-19 Outbreaks Using Built Environment Testing for SARS-CoV-2

Michael Fralick, Caroline Nott, Jason Moggridge, Lucas Castellani, Ashley Raudanskis, David S. Guttman, Aaron Hinz, Nisha Thampi, Alex Wong, Doug Manuel, Allison McGeer, Evgueni Doukhanine, Hebah Mejbel, Veronica Zanichelli, Madison Burella, Sylva L. Donaldson, Pauline W. Wang, Rees Kassen, and Derek R. MacFadden. NEJM Evidence. 2023.

https://doi.org/10.1056/EVIDoa2200203
The spatial and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 from the built environment of COVID-19 patient rooms: A multicentre prospective study

Michael Fralick, Madison Burella, Aaron Hinz, Hebah S. Mejbel, David S. Guttman, Lydia Xing, Jason Moggridge, John Lapp, Alex Wong, Caroline Nott, Nicole Harris-Linton, Rees Kassen, Derek R. MacFadden. PLoS One. 2023.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282489
Beyond wastewater surveillance: refining environmental pathogen detection in the built environment

Sawith Abeygunawardena, Rees Kassen and Mike Fralick. CMAJ. 2022. 194(46).

https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.147480-l
SARS-CoV-2 detection from the built environment and wastewater and its use for hospital surveillance

Aaron Hinz, Lydia Xing, Evgueni Doukhanine, Laura A. Hug, Rees Kassen, Banu Ormeci, Richard J. Kibbee, Alex Wong, Derek MacFadden, and Caroline Nott. FACETS. 2022. 7: 82-97.

https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2021-0139

Media

Rounds Table Podcast Episode 59 – The Floor is COVID-19

Dr. John Fralick sits down with Dr. Mike Fralick to chat about a project he recently published in NEJM Evidence entitled, “Detection of Covid-19 Outbreaks Using Built Environment Testing for SARS-CoV-2” – a study designed to explore how to best surveil for COVID-19 in congregate living settings!

2023-04-20
Rees Kassen interview on 1310 News

Rees chats about outbreak prediction and pathogen surveillance

2023-03-16 (Image: Marcus Spiske/Unsplash)
Floor swabs at LTC homes early predictor of COVID outbreaks, study finds

CBC News Ottawa talks with our team about research conducted in long-term care homes across Ontario.

2023-03-15 (Image: Jean Delisle/CBC)
New study shows it’s possible to detect a COVID-19 outbreak before it happens

Stu Mills interviews Rees Kassen about floor swabbing, the CUBE project, and our recent work in long-term care homes.

2023-03-15 (Image: Jean Delisle/CBC)
Sault-area nursing homes involved in COVID-19 study

CTV News talks with Mike Fralick about our research in long-term care homes

2023-03-15 (Image: Camerauthor/Unsplash)
PHO Rounds

PHO Rounds presentation by CUBE: Evaluating the use of Environmental Swabs for the Detection and Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in School and Congregate Settings

2022-09-15
CUBE @ TEDx UGuelph

Michael Fralick presents research findings from the CUBE project for a general audience.

2022-04-01
Looking for COVID? Try the floor

The CBC interviews Rees Kassen about COVID-19 and the CUBE project.

2022-02-21 (Image: Jean Delisle/CBC)
Swabbing floors to detect COVID-19 could be a useful indicator of the disease’s spread

Aaron Hinz and Rees Kassen in The Conversation.

2022-02-15 (Image: Michal Pechardo/Unsplash)
CUBE Lecture Presented at the Library of Congress

Rees Kassen and Caroline Nott present CUBE research in their Library of Congress lecture.

2021-07-21. Skip to 44:10 (Image: Library of Congress/Unsplash)