What You Should Know:
– Verily, a precision health technology company, announced a significant expansion of its wastewater surveillance program into the United Kingdom through an exclusive partnership with Bangor University.
– This collaboration will leverage the university’s wastewater-based public health surveillance program capabilities and main testing lab. Bangor University’s wastewater monitoring capabilities are market leading in the U.K. for environmental bio-surveillance and the university’s lab serves as one of the research and development hubs for the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and Welsh Government.
Verily Partners with Bangor University to Advance Wastewater-Based Public Health Surveillance in Europe
Verily, an Alphabet health technology company, is committed to advancing precision health through research, care, and health financing. Positioned at the intersection of technology, data science, and healthcare, Verily develops tools to accelerate evidence generation, create products for personalized care, and design strategies to make healthcare costs more predictable.
In a significant expansion of its wastewater surveillance program, Verily has partnered with Bangor University to enhance public health monitoring across the U.K. and Europe. Led by Davey Jones, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental Science & Public Health and Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor at Bangor University, the lab will adopt Verily’s advanced wastewater testing technology to:
– Deliver high-quality data crucial for tracking virus transmission
– Bolster research and development efforts in both the public and private sectors
– Extend testing services to a broad range of human pathogens, including Norovirus, Influenza, MPXV (formerly known as monkeypox virus), SARS-CoV-2, antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, and fungi
Prof. Jones and his team will continue to oversee operations at Bangor University’s lab, in close partnership with Verily, while also accelerating new capabilities such as environmental testing. Since its launch in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bangor University lab has become a leader in environmental bio-surveillance in the U.K. Now, with Verily’s state-of-the-art, high-throughput lab automation, the lab is poised to establish itself as a world-class facility for wastewater surveillance, capable of addressing public health needs across the U.K. and Europe.
Verily’s wastewater surveillance program, a leader in wastewater-based epidemiology, provides logistics and testing services to detect pathogens in wastewater, enabling timely monitoring and informed public health actions. Verily’s current U.S. collaborations, including partnerships with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and WastewaterSCAN, have enabled the tracking of over 15 pathogens—including SARS-CoV-2, Influenza, H5, and MPXV—from hundreds of testing sites.
This partnership with Bangor University marks Verily’s entry into the European market and reinforces its commitment to global public health. Together, Verily and Bangor University are onboarding clients, including government entities and life sciences companies, for wastewater testing services and the generation of unique public health insights based on wastewater data.
“Our partnership with Bangor University is an exciting advancement in Verily’s mission to establish an international pathogen monitoring network as we expand our capabilities to Europe,” said Andrew Trister, MD, PhD, Chief Medical and Scientific Officer at Verily.
