Department Environmental Microbiology

Pathogens and Human Health

Research areas

The Pathogens and Human Health group research agenda is to contribute to the reduction of the global infectious disease burden through the study of pathogen surveillance and transmission at the boundary between humans and the environment.

Despite dramatic reductions in infectious disease burden over the past century, morbidity and mortality remain strikingly high. For example, there are over 4 billion cases of gastrointestinal illness and 14 billion cases of respiratory illness worldwide every year. Antimicrobial resistance is also an emerging threat, with over an estimated 1 million attributable deaths per year.  These diseases, like many others, transit through the environment during transmission from infected to susceptible people. This environmental transmission provides opportunities for pathogen detection to inform disease dynamics and help to inform design of effective infection control interventions.

The Pathogens and Human Health research group works to develop, standardize, and apply methods for sensitive detection, quantification, and characterization of environmentally mediated infectious diseases.  Methodological approaches include quantitative culture- and molecular-based detection, quantitative and digital PCR, tilling amplicon-based sequencing, metagenomic sequencing, and whole genome sequencing.  These approaches are applied to diverse matrices, including hands, soil, surfaces, water, and wastewater.

Outputs from our group are shared and disseminated through peer reviewed publications (DORA 4RI), national and international conferences and seminars, online data dashboards (wise.ethz.ch), and direct engagement with cantonal and federal authorities.

Group Leader

Dr. Tim Julian Group Leader of Pathogens and Human Health Tel. +41 58 765 5632 Send Mail

Selected Publications

de Korne-Elenbaas, J.; Caduff, L.; Lison, A.; McLeod, R.; Pitton, M.; Gan, C.; Julian, T. R. (2025) Design, validation, and implementation of multiplex digital PCR assays for simultaneous quantification of multiple targets, Letters in Applied Microbiology, 78(1), ovae137 (11 pp.), doi:10.1093/lambio/ovae137, Institutional Repository
Greenwood, E. E.; Lauber, T.; van den Hoogen, J.; Donmez, A.; Bain, R. E. S.; Johnston, R.; Crowther, T. W.; Julian, T. R. (2024) Mapping safe drinking water use in low- and middle-income countries, Science, 385(6710), 784-790, doi:10.1126/science.adh9578, Institutional Repository
Tang, L.; Rhoads, W. J.; Eichelberg, A.; Hamilton, K. A.; Julian, T. R. (2024) Applications of quantitative microbial risk assessment to respiratory pathogens and implications for uptake in policy: a state-of-the-science review, Environmental Health Perspectives, 132(5), 56001 (16 pp.), doi:10.1289/EHP12695, Institutional Repository
Reynaert, E.; Sylvestre, É.; Morgenroth, E.; Julian, T. R. (2024) Greywater recycling for diverse collection scales and appliances: enteric pathogen log-removal targets and treatment trains, Water Research, 264, 122216 (13 pp.), doi:10.1016/j.watres.2024.122216, Institutional Repository
Conforti, S.; Holschneider, A.; Sylvestre, É.; Julian, T. R. (2024) Monitoring ESBL-Escherichia coli in Swiss wastewater between November 2021 and November 2022: insights into population carriage, mSphere, 9(5), 1-16, doi:10.1128/msphere.00760-23, Institutional Repository

Projects

Risk Factors for Pathogenic and Antimicrobial Resistant Escherichia coli in Drinking Water based on nationally representative Household-Level Survey.
Application of Wastewater-based Epidemiology to SARS-CoV-2 Detection
Inhalation of legionella bacteria – which thrive in warm water – can cause illness: in a new project, an Eawag-led multidisciplinary research team is investigating how the risks associated with these bacteria can best be managed.