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

Environmental Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 for Outbreak Detection in Hospital: A Single Centre Prospective Study

Hania Siddiqui, Alexandra M.A. Hicks, Aaron Hinz, Prachi Ray, Jennie Johnstone, Derek R. MacFadden, Jason A. Moggridge, Michael Fralick. Journal of Clinical Virology. 2024.

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.

SARS-CoV-2 Burden on the Floor Was Associated with COVID-19 Cases and Outbreaks in Two Acute Care Hospitals: A Prospective Cohort Study

Fralick, Michael, Jason A. Moggridge, Makenna Wiebe, Lucas Castellani, Allison McGeer, Bryan Feenstra, Aaron Hinz, et al. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. 2024. 1-5.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

Beyond wastewater surveillance: refining environmental pathogen detection in the built environment

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

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.


Media

COVID on the Floor Linked to Outbreaks on Two Hospital Wards

Dr. Caroline Nott discusses our recent study looking at the association of the viral burden of SARS-CoV-2 on floors with COVID-19 outbreaks in two acute-care hospitals.

Floor swabbing could help prevent COVID-19 outbreaks in hospitals

Caroline Nott and Michael Fralick on correlation between floor swab results and human COVID-19 case burden and outbreaks in two Ontario hospitals.

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!

Rees Kassen interview on 1310 News

Rees chats about outbreak prediction and pathogen surveillance

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.

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.

Sault-area nursing homes involved in COVID-19 study

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

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

CUBE @ TEDx UGuelph

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

Looking for COVID? Try the floor

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

CUBE Lecture Presented at the Library of Congress

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