“The Tacoma researchers are exploring a novel approach they hope could inform public health decisions.
About an hour after the sewer sample was plucked from beneath the Tacoma overpass, research technician Darrell Lockhart sat before a biosafety hood and gingerly used a pipette to mix samples with a solvent solution and begin analytical testing that targets genetic sequences.
Workers and volunteers at the RAIN Incubator laboratory in Tacoma, a nonprofit hub Hirschberg founded in hopes of sparking a biotech renaissance in Tacoma, each week gather and process about eight samples — five from nearby sewer sites and three from Tacoma’s wastewater plants.
— Evan Bush
