BactoTrans: Upscaling bacterial overland transport – a multiparametric approach

The project aims to develop new transport models (bacterial overland transport - BOT) that enable reliable predictions to be made about where (bacterial) pathogens come from, how they move through the environment and where they end up. The project pursues a holistic, quantitative approach to transfer BOT model parameters to large scales. Precipitation experiments will be conducted on a small scale in the laboratory and on a larger scale with a unique precipitation simulator under real environmental conditions.

The state-of-the-art combination of quantitative, microbiological and molecular methods and parameters will provide the scientific basis for accurate prediction of BOT, which can be extended to viruses and protozoa in the future.

Precise quantification of BOT through advanced diagnostics

In addition to the analysis of faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) using culture- and qPCR-based methods, host-associated microbial source tracking (MST) markers are also being analysed for BOT models for the first time. In order to test the significance of FIB and MST markers with regard to pathogen transport and mobility, bacterial reference pathogens that are important for human health are quantified using qPCR.

Furthermore, the influence of physico-chemical, environmental and age-related effects on quantitative BOT processes will be determined. The BACTO-TRANS project therefore has great potential to revolutionise this field of research.