New perspective article in Nature Sustainability: Reimagining safe drinking water on the basis of twenty-first-century science
Protecting drinking water is tough with an ever-expanding set of chemicals in our environment. Paul Ferraro and I propose an alternative way that leverages recent advances in bioassays, analysis of complex mixtures, and Artificial Intelligence. A free version of the Perspective article is available here.
We propose a new proactive approach (which we call MiAMI – Mixture, Assay, Measure, Innovate) that evaluates drinking water quality more holistically by focusing on complex mixtures instead of a small set of regulated, well-known chemicals that have been studied for decades.
Photo-essay undergraduate class project ‘Environmental Concerns’
As part of Carsten’s teaching activities, he started a new photo-essay blog project in collaboration with Kevin Mick, Professor in the Psychology Department at the Community College of Baltimore County.
This photo-essay blog represents our approach to engage students with environmental issues that are associated with anthropogenic activities in a format that is totally different from their typical experiences in the classroom. The task for participating students is to take a single picture or a series of pictures that highlight an environmental issues that is of concern to them. The pictures are accompanied with a short text paragraph that allows the students to share their personal story about the pictures and how they relate to environmental issues they are uncovering.
PhD student Veronica Wallace wins Scholarship from the Air & Waste Management Association
Congratulations to Veronica for winning the Solid and Hazardous Waste Research Scholarship by the Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA)!
Johns Hopkins Alliance for Healthier World Grant on Urban Aquaculture
Urban Aquaculture for Climate Justice and Local Food Sovereignty is headed by co-principal investigators Nicole Labruto, an assistant research professor in the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences’ Department of Anthropology, and Carsten Prasse, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health & Engineering at the Whiting School of Engineering.
The project will join with the Black Yield Institute — a Black-led think tank and collective action network that addresses food apartheid — to explore the feasibility of community-led urban aquaculture on the shoreline of the Patapsco River’s Middle Branch in south Baltimore.
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for Daisy Grace
Congratulations to Daisy Grace, first year PhD student in the Prasse lab, for winning the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship! Her proposed research will focus on the development of novel approaches for the detection of toxic organic chemicals in (drinking) water.
What Our Wastewater Can Tell Us
Carsten was featured in an article about Wastewater Epidemiology in the Johns Hopkins Magazine.
Carsten is part of a diverse community of researchers, designers, activists, and artists, committed to the imagination and development of alternative ecological futures. We work with the conviction that there are designers everywhere, drawing on communal traditions and practical expertise to forge other worlds of possibility.
Comedian Talks with a Public Health (Water) Expert
Carsten was interviewed by comedian Scott Rogowsky on contaminants in the urban water cycle and how they impact environmental and human health as part of a new Comedian Talks with Public Health Expert Series by the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Carsten was featured in an article in the Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine on Wastewater-based Epidemiology (WBE) for detection of SARS-CoV-2 and chemical markers.
Carsten was featured in a story published by Ensia on drinking water contamination across the U.S.
Critical Review paper on Reactivity-directed analysis (RDA) featured in the media
Provost Undergraduate Research Award for Annabel Mungan
Congratulations to our undergraduate Annabel Mungan who was awarded the JHU Provost’s Undergraduate Research Award. She will be working with PhD student Veronica Wallace on the analysis of antiviral and antibiotic drugs in wastewater.
Nick Pham wins Maryland State Stockholm Junior Water Price 2020
Congratulations to our high school student Nick Pham who was just announced as the Maryland State Winner of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize! Nick will now participate in the national competition.
Our latest paper was featured in USA Today
Provost Undergraduate Research Award for Melody Multra
Congratulations to our undergraduate Melody Multra who was awarded the JHU Provost’s Undergraduate Research Award. She will be working with PhD student Christopher Brueck on the anaerobic degradation of agrochemicals.
Lab group dinner party
Barclay School 6th Graders Campus Visit
We had a great time with the 6th graders from the Barclay School in Baltimore and talking about environmental pollution and ways of cleaning our water.
Johns Hopkins Provost’s Undergraduate Award for Rafael Ferguson
Our undergraduate student Rafael Ferguson, who is working with Zhuoyue Zhang on the fate of organic UV filters in swimming pools, received the Provost’s Undergraduate Award from Johns Hopkins University (https://research.jhu.edu/hour/internal/pura/). Congratulations Rafa!
The Academic Minute on Water Purification
Carsten was recently featured on The Academic Minute:
Research Highlighted on Johns Hopkins Hub
Our latest paper on the formation of toxic transformation products during water treatment with UV and hydrogen peroxide (Prasse et al. 2018, PNAS) was featured as cover story on the Johns Hopkins Hub. (https://hub.jhu.edu/2018/05/02/water-treatment-generates-harmful-chemicals/)
Wastewater Epidemiology – A New Tool to Assess Public Health of Communities?
(https://www.statnews.com/2018/06/26/wastewater-epidemiology-biobot-opioids/)
Wastewater Epidemiology – China Leading the Way?
(https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05728-3)
Research Highlighted by Nature Reviews Chemistry
Our research on the formation of toxic by-products from reaction of phenols with hydroxyl radicals and UV light was highlighted in a featured Nature Reviews Chemistry article.
