2 President ’ s / Chief Executive Officer ’ s Message

Environmental Health

10 Assessing and Advancing Public Health Research and Practice Through Exposomics

12 CDC and NCBI Coordinate Wastewater-based Genomic Surveillance Data

Food Safety 14 A Whole New World : Metagenomics and Food Safety

From the Bench 16 New Jersey Laboratory Pioneers

Prenatal Lead and Mercury Screening

Global Health 18 APHL Responds to COVID-19 Crisis in

India

19 The Unanticipated Benefits of Virtual Trainings

Industry Matters 20 The Role for NGS-based Technologies in a Post-Pandemic World

Infectious Diseases

22 An Evaluation of Spartan Bioscience ’ s Environmental Legionella pneumophila qPCR Field Test

Public Health Preparedness and Response 23 US Virgin Islands Immunization Program Begins Vaccine Awareness Campaign

24 Engaging Non-traditional Partners to Build Biosafety Practices

Quality Systems & Analytics 26 Southeast ColLABorators Convene

Virtual Tabletop Exercise

Membership 28 Kansas Department of Agriculture Laboratory : Protecting Animals , Humans and the Land They Share

30 APHL 2021 Award Winners

Fellows 32 APHL Fellows : Endings and Beginnings

Digital Extra 33 APHL 2021 Poster Abstracts

4 The True Promise of Metagenomics

Microbes are everywhere — in the water we drink , the food we eat and in our natural and built environments . Metagenomics — the direct sequencing of clinical specimens and environmental samples — makes it possible to investigate microbes within the complex communities where they live with precise interpretation in a short period of time , compared to traditional methods which can take days or even weeks . While metagenomics is being used extensively in academia for medical research , and by government organizations , what does metagenomics look like within a public health laboratory ? The quick answer is … it ’ s complicated .

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Phone : 240.485.2745 Fax : 240.485.2700 E-mail : info @ aphl . org Web : www . aphl . org

The Association of Public Health Laboratories ( APHL ) works to strengthen laboratory systems serving the public ’ s health in the US and globally . APHL ’ s member laboratories protect the public ’ s health by monitoring and detecting infectious and foodborne diseases , environmental contaminants , terrorist agents , genetic disorders in newborns and other diverse health threats .

APHL LAB MATTERS STAFF

Gynene Sullivan , MA , editor Karen Klinedinst , art director David Fouse , advisor

To submit an article for consideration , contact Gynene Sullivan , editor , at gynene . sullivan @ aphl . org .

APHL 2021-2022 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Denise Toney , PhD , HCLD ( ABB ), president Daphne Ware , PhD , president-elect Godfred Masinde , PhD , MBA , HCLD ( ABB ), secretary-treasurer Michael Pentella PhD , D ( ABMM ), member-at-large Scott Shone , PhD , HCLD ( ABB ), member-at-large Timothy Southern , PhD , member-at-large

Sally Flowers , PhD , associate institutional member representative

Sanjib Bhattacharyya , PhD , local institutional member representative

Megan Crumpler , PhD , local institutional member representative

Grace Kubin , PhD , past president Scott Becker , MS , ex officio , chief executive officer , APHL