Skip to content
Ameet Pinto
Assistant Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering
617.373.5241
Expertise
'omics analyses, drinking water treatment and distribution, Microbial ecology and physiology, molecular microbiology, public health microbiology, wastewater treatment

Ameet Pinto in the Press

Ameet Pinto for Northeastern Global News

Are there COVID-19 cases in your community? The answer may be in your sewer.

Researchers from Northeastern are now using wastewater to determine whether COVID-19 cases are present in a population. While this type of monitoring won’t replace coronavirus testing, it could warn city officials when the virus appears and help them prepare for outbreaks.

Scientists still don’t have all the answers about the coronavirus–and that’s a sign of progress

As researchers study SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 at breakneck speeds, one key aspect to keep in mind is that the research is happening while everyone watches. “The public is getting front-row seats to the scientific method, probably in a way they never imagined they would’ve experienced,” says Samuel Scarpino, who runs the Emergent Epidemics Lab at Northeastern.

Our drinking water was always full of microbes. Are the wrong ones thriving in the pandemic?

It’s been months, and life has changed dramatically across the planet. Zooming in where only a microscope can see, Northeastern researchers are trying to determine how the lifestyle changes caused by COVID-19 might be helping harmful bacteria grow in our drinking water.

You love that dirty water. But how dirty is it really?

In 1965, the water in the Charles River was so dirty that The Standells wrote a song about it. Now the “Dirty Water” Boston sports fans have come to love could soon host its first public swimming site, which is being tested by a Northeastern researcher.