{"id":6833,"date":"2025-05-13T15:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T15:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/?p=6833"},"modified":"2026-09-09T17:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T17:16:09","slug":"preventing-the-next-pandemic-leveraging-the-andrew-pipetting-robot-and-extraction-connected-device-to-monitor-antimicrobials-in-hospital-wastewater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/preventing-the-next-pandemic-leveraging-the-andrew-pipetting-robot-and-extraction-connected-device-to-monitor-antimicrobials-in-hospital-wastewater\/","title":{"rendered":"Preventing The Next Pandemic: Leveraging the Andrew+ Pipetting Robot and Extraction+ Connected Device to Monitor Antimicrobials in Hospital Wastewater"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"dr
Dr. Takashi Azuma
Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Dr. Takashi Azuma\u2019s research on hospital wastewater monitoring at Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University may prevent the next global pandemic.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Five years later, it is difficult to forget the horror of the Covid-19 pandemic. Leaving behind a death toll estimated at between 18.2 million to 33.5 million, the greatest recession since the Great Depression, and massive food shortages due to panic buying and the disruption of global supply chains, the Covid-19 pandemic was a devastating event to live through. Pioneering research on mRNA-based vaccines brought the pandemic to an end. Cutting edge research currently underway in the laboratory of Professor Dr. Takashi Azuma at Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Japan is focused on ensuring that we will never have to experience another pandemic again in our lifetime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Takashi Azuma\u2019s research on hospital wastewater monitoring at Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University may prevent the next global pandemic. Dr. Azuma\u2019s research group laboratory has focused on one of these key factors: antimicrobial overuse. For this reason, Dr. Azuma and his colleagues have directed their attention to major \u2018hotspots\u2019 of antimicrobial overuse: hospitals. If not adequately addressed, hospital wastewater can serve as a major source of the release of antimicrobials and AMR into the environment. When bacteria, fungi, and viruses evolve to resist antimicrobials, a public health crisis can rapidly result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To monitor the concentration of antimicrobials in hospital wastewater, Dr. Azuma and members of his research group developed a highly sensitive analytical platform that combines solid phase extraction (SPE) with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS\/MS). SPE is a vital step in monitoring antimicrobials in wastewater, prior to LC-MS\/MS analysis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until recently, performing SPE prior to LC-MS\/MS analysis was a manual, labor-intensive step that was rate limiting in wastewater monitoring surveillance programs. The Andrew+ Robot can be used in conjunction with the Extraction+ Connected Device to perform plug-and-play SPE.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Figure 1. (a) Overview of the high-throughput analysis (HTA) platform for hospital wastewater monitoring in the laboratory of Dr. Azuma. (b) Detailed view of the key components in the HTA platform which includes decks (aka \u201cDominos\u201d) to store pipette tips, 96-well plate holders, bottle holders, a tip waste container, and a microplate gripper tool. Figure from Reference 2, CC-BY License (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/<\/a>). \u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Dr. Azuma did a direct comparison of manual vs. automated SPE using the Andrew+ Robot when determining the concentration of ampicillin, cefpodoxime, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, azithromycin, clarithromycin, doxycycline, minocycline, and vancomycin in hospital wastewater samples. Specifically, Dr. Azuma focused on a 500-bed general hospital located in an urban area of Japan that cares for approximately 1500 patients per day. The two methods (manual, automated) yielded results that were in excellent agreement with one another (r=0.99).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUsing an Andrew+ Robot platform to perform solid phase extraction of antimicrobials in hospital wastewater, we were able to significantly save valuable time spent on sample preparation without comprising on accuracy and reproducibility,\u201d commented Dr. Azuma. \u201cMost importantly, the OneLab Software platform that powers the Andrew+ Robot is very user-friendly. One can develop robust experimental protocols without any expertise in programming,\u201d added Dr. Azuma. If we never live through another pandemic again, it may be in part due to excellent hospital wastewater monitoring programs such as the program that Dr. Azuma and colleagues established in Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"diagram
Figure 2. (a) Manual vs. automated analysis of hospital wastewater to monitor antimicrobials. Figure from Reference 2, CC-BY License (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/<\/a>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. \u201cThe pandemic\u2019s true death toll.\u201d The Economist<\/em>. 25 Oct. 2022. [18 November 2021]. Archived from\u00a0the original\u00a0<\/a>on 8 February 2024. Retrieved 26 July.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Azuma, Takashi, et al. \u201cDevelopment of a High-Throughput Analytical Method for Antimicrobials in Wastewater Using an Automated Pipetting and Solid-Phase Extraction System.\u201d Antibiotics<\/em>\u00a04 (2024): 335.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Dr. Takashi Azuma\u2019s research on hospital wastewater monitoring at Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University may prevent the next global pandemic. Five years later, it is difficult to forget the horror of the Covid-19 pandemic. Leaving behind a death toll estimated at between 18.2 million to 33.5 million, the greatest recession since the Great Depression, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":3623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"Preventing The Next Pandemic: Leveraging the Andrew+ Pipetting Robot and Extraction+ Connected Device to Monitor Antimicrobials in Hospital Wastewater","_seopress_titles_desc":"Dr. Takashi Azuma\u2019s research on hospital wastewater monitoring at Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University may prevent the next global pandemic.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"both","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":301,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[763,766,64,764],"class_list":["post-6833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-environmental","tag-andrew-robot","tag-extraction-connected-device","tag-lc-ms","tag-onelab-software"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":53,"label":"Food & Environmental"}],"post_tag":[{"value":763,"label":"Andrew+ Robot"},{"value":766,"label":"Extraction+ Connected Device"},{"value":64,"label":"LC-MS"},{"value":764,"label":"OneLab Software"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/adobestock_253015760-scaled-1-1024x684.jpeg",1024,684,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Waters Staff","author_link":"https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/author\/waters_staff\/"},"comment_info":"","category_info":[{"term_id":53,"name":"Food & Environmental","slug":"food-environmental","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":53,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Public health and environmental testing laboratories rely on our instruments, software, reagents, and consumables products to help ensure the safety of drinking water and that foods are authentic and free of adulterants or contaminants. 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