The joint research team, consisting of Dr. Vu Duc Canh, Project Asst. Prof. Liu Miaomiao, Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima and Hokkaido University, reveals the prevalence and seasonal patterns of human bocavirus and Streptococcus pneumoniae through wastewater surveillance using the optimized EPISENS-M method. The paper has been published in ACS ES&T Water.

● Vu Duc Canh, Motoki Kawashima, Akihiro Kawaguchi, Miaomiao Liu, Satoshi Okabe, Masaaki Kitajima (2025) Revealing the Epidemiology of Human Bocavirus and Streptococcus pneumoniae through Wastewater Surveillance, ACS ES&T Water, ASAP.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.5c00594

Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima is giving the following special lecture. This academic conference was established 19 years ago with the aim of contributing to the development of basic, applied, and clinical research in microbiology in Japan.

北島正章 (2025) ウイルス感染症の下水疫学：学問分野の開拓から社会実装まで [特別講演], 第19回細菌学若手コロッセウム, Oct 26, 酪農学園大学, 北海道.

A "Letter to the Editor" on Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance, with Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima as one of the authors, has been published by JWET.

● Yoshitaka Nishikawa, Michio Murakami, Warish Ahmed, Masahiko Haraguchi, Kwanrawee Sirikanchana, Theodros Getachew Zemedu, Masaaki Kitajima (2025) Reporting Standards for Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance: Toward Better Environmental Science and Public Health Practice, Journal of Water and Environment Technology, 23(5), 231-233.
https://doi.org/10.2965/jwet.25-144 (Letter to the Editor)

The latest edition (2025/Vol.8) of the "Updated Science-Wide Author Databases of Standardized Citation Indicators", a list of top-cited scientists created by Stanford University and Elsevier, was released on Sep 19, 2025.

Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima was selected for both the "career-long" and "single recent year" categories *. Combined with past selections, this marks the second consecutive "career-long" selection since 2024 and the fifth consecutive "single recent year" selection since 2021.

This list covers scientists worldwide who have published at least five papers in 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields. The top 2% of scientists in each subfield were selected based on information from Scopus, an abstract and citation database provided by Elsevier.

Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima will be speaking at the "12th Nikkei FT Communicable Diseases Conference ～What new values are required in an age of division?～", which will be streamed online live from October 7-9, where he will engage in in-depth discussions with experts in various fields, including infectious disease countermeasures, vaccines, and the front lines of medical care. Viewing is free, so please do tune in.

October 7th, 9:30-11:30
Agenda1　Improving Global Health Security through Broad-ranging Collaboration
A discussion gathering 13 lecturers from industry, government, and academia, including Dr. Shigeru OMI.
▶Pre-registration and details here

Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima will give a lecture at a monthly public seminiar Hydrosphere Science Seminar held by Hydrosphere and Engironment research group of Department of Civil Engineering. It will start at 15:00 on October 6th. Please register here and join us!

A researcher in the field of pediatrics at Niigata University's Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, who is in the joint research team with Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima, gave a lecture as a recipient of the Young Researcher Encouragement Award, and after judging, was selected as the best lecture out of six presentations.

第66回日本臨床ウイルス学会@札幌
● 太刀川潤、相澤悠太、鈴木優子、羽深理恵、Nur Irma Safitri、北島正章、齋藤昭彦 (2025) 下水サーベイランスによるパレコウイルス-Aの同定と遺伝子型解析, 第66回日本臨床ウイルス学会, Sep 27-28, 札幌コンベンションセンター. [若手奨励賞受賞者講演] [最優秀賞受賞]

Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima took the stage as a panelist at a conference of GLOWACON, the Global Consortium for Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance for Public Health.

● Programme
https://glowacontest.org/content/glowacon-events/glowacon-expo-osaka/

● X of EU Commission Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA)
"From Expo Osaka, Europe is advancing global health preparedness! Hosted by #EUatExpo, the #GLOWACON event discussed wastewater & environmental surveillance as a tool for early warning & response. We are expanding the list of monitored pathogens to include dengue, Zika & mpox."
https://x.com/EC_HERA/status/1968589461765173338

"At @expo2025japan: the call for expression of interest for the #GLOWACON Aviation Programme is open.
This initiative will use wastewater analysis at airports worldwide to create a synchronised global system for monitoring pathogens and strengthening public health security"
https://x.com/EC_HERA/status/1968608713838575686
Image: from HERA's X

A paper with Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima as the corresponding author has been available as a preprint.

● Michio Murakami, Nobuhisa Ishiguro, Hiroki Ando, Mutsumi Ishida, Toshihiro Hamada, Sho Nakakubo, Reiko Oyamada, Takahiro Hayashi, Yusuke Niinuma, Keisuke Kagami, Tatsuya Fukumoto, Keisuke Taki, Tomoyuki Endo, Masaaki Kitajima (2025) Wastewater Surveillance Reveals Testing-Related Underreporting and Hospital-Acquired SARS-CoV-2 Infections (September 18). Preprint available at medRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.16.25335846

● Miaomiao Liu, Angga Sandhyana Made, 松山しずか, 北島正章, 馬場知哉, 原田真一 (2025) Characterization of Elizabethkingia spp. Isolated from the Wastewater of an Elderly Care Facility：Opportunistic Pathogens with Extensive Intrinsic Resistance（ポスター）, 第28回日本水環境学会シンポジウム, 富山県立大学, Sep 17-19.

Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima gave the following lecture at De La Salle University (DLSU), the Philippines, on Sep 10th.

● Event name：
The Pursuit of Water Security: Water and Wastewater Research and Collaboration Lecture Series
● Lecture title：
From Method Development to Public Health Practice: Advancing Wastewater-based Epidemiology

We are also conducting joint research with DLSU within the framework of the JST NEXUS Japan-Philippines International Collaborative Research Project "Water Security" (Japan-sie PI: Prof. Eiji Haramoto, University of Yamanashi).

Project Assoc. Prof. Ryota Gomi will give the following invited lecture at the 38th JSME @ TOKYO2025 (Japanese Society of Microbial Ecology), which will be held at the Ookayama Campus of Institute of Science Tokyo from September 7th to 10th.

● Lecture Time：Morning, Wednesday, September 10th
● Symposium：05 Mobilome-Driven Dissemination of Antimicrobial Resistance Gene
● Lecture Title：環境細菌のゲノム解析による薬剤耐性遺伝子新規拡散機構の探索

Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima is the editor of the new Collection on wastewater surveillance in Discover Public Health. We welcome your paper submissions.

● Journal：Discover Public Health
● Collection：Application of Wastewater Surveillance in Public Health
● Submission deadline：25 November 2025
● Editor：Dr. Phong Thai, The University of Queensland and Dr. Masaaki Kitajima, The University of Tokyo
● Details：https://link.springer.com/collections/giiadhjdde

A paper on a cross-sectional assessment of wastewater surveillance efforts in Asia has been published online in Int. J. Environ. Health Res. In addition to Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima, many researchers from Asian countries participated in this research, including Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Hong Kong, and Australia.

A paper was published in Sci. Total Environ. by lead author Dr. Vu Duc Canh, a former project researcher and currently a lecturer at Ton Duc Thang University. The paper assessed the removal of viruses and antibiotic resistance genes in both pre- and post-treatment of conventional activated sludge (CAS) and membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems to reduce the health risks associated with wastewater reuse. Co-authors include Project Prof. Hiroyuki Katayama and Project Assoc. Prof. Ikuro Kasuga.

Vu Duc Canh, Tippawan Singhopon, Ikuro Kasuga, Hiroyuki Katayama (2025) Removal of viruses and antibiotic resistance genes in bacteriophage fraction by conventional activated sludge (CAS) and membrane bioreactor treatment (MBR) systems, Science of The Total Environment, 989, 179787.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.179787　 Online Jun 10/Booklet Aug 10

Postgraduate student, Shusuke Araki (M1) received the Best Oral Presentation Award at the IFAWET-5 held in Dehradun, India from Aug 6th to 8th. Congratulations!

There will be an oral presentation at a domestic conference as a Winner's lecture of Young Researcher Encouragement Award, and also two poster presentations at an international conference. The presenters are the researchers from the Department of Pediatrics, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, who conduct joint research with Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima.

第66回日本臨床ウイルス学会@札幌
●太刀川潤、相澤悠太、鈴木優子、羽深理恵、Nur Irma Safitri、北島正章、齋藤昭彦 (2025) 下水サーベイランスによるパレコウイルス-Aの同定と遺伝子型解析, 第66回日本臨床ウイルス学会, Sep 27-28, 札幌コンベンションセンター. [若手奨励賞受賞者講演]

IDWeek@Atlanta
●Jun Tachikawa, Yuta Aizawa, Rie Habuka, Kotaro Tsushima, Nur Irma Safitri, Tatsuki Ikuse, Masaaki Kitajima, Akihiko Saitoh (2025) Successful Early Detection of the Enterovirus-D68 Outbreak among Children by Wastewater Surveillance in Niigata City, Japan, 2024, Poster, IDWeek, Oct 19-22, Atlanta, USA.
●Yuta Aizawa, Jun Tachikawa, Rie Habuka, Nur Irma Safitri, Ryohei Izumita, Satoshi Hasegawa, Kazuhiro Horiba, Masaaki Kitajima, Akihiko Saitoh (2025) Detection of Recombinant Parechovirus-A5 in Neonatal Sepsis-like Illness and its Community Circulation Confirmed by Wastewater Surveillance, Poster, IDWeek, Oct 19-22, Atlanta, USA.

A 15-min video clip featuring Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima and his work was broadcast on NHK WORLD-JAPAN's Direct Talk and it is now available at the following link. Some laboratory members also appear in the video.

On Air Schedule
August 6, 2025. 10:30 - 10:45 / 15:30 - 15:45 / 21:30 - 21:45
August 7, 2025. 02:30 - 02:45 / 07:30 - 07:45
August 11, 2025. 09:15 - 09:30 (A total of 6 broadcasts)

Dr. VU Duc Canh has been promoted to a lecturer position at Ton Duc Thang University in Vietnam on August 1st. He received his PhD degree from UTokyo in Mar 2020 and continued his research as a postdoctoral researcher in the Dept. Urban Engineering and then in Laboratory of International Wastewater Epidemiology. Congratulations!

[Dr. Canh's main research achievements]
● Papers：Published 20 papers, 14 of which he was the first author
● Awards：
　JSWE-ORGANO Doctoral Research Awards Grand Prize (2019)
　The WET Excellent Presentation Award (2019)
　The 5th Award for Asian Young Professional on Water Research (2014)
● Book chapters：
「Environmental Resilience and Transformation in Times of COVID-19」－Chapter10 (2021)
「Plastic Atlas Asia Edition: Facts and figures about the world of synthetic polymers」－WATER FROM THE RIVERS TO THE OCEANS (2021)
● International Conference committee：International Young Researchers' Conference, VANJ Conference etc.

A paper with Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima is the last author and conducted in collaboration with Waseda University, Kanagawa University of Human Services, and others, has been published in Sci. Total Environ. A press release in English was issued on Jul 31st by School of Engineering.

Byung-Kwang Yoo, Ryo Iwamoto, Ungil Chung, Tomoko Sasaki, Peter G. Szilagyi, Masaaki Kitajima (2025) Economic evaluation of the city-level warning system based on surveillance at wastewater treatment plants to recommend optimal clinical COVID-19 screening tests at long-term care facilities, Japan, Science of The Total Environment, 990, 179645.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.179645　Online Jun 18/Booklet Aug 15

We hosted Ms. Opshory Choudhury, a third-year undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, from June 19th to July 30th as part of the School of Engineering Summer Program, ESEP-UC.

In Kitajima Lab, she worked mainly on antimicrobial resistance profiling using wastewater-based epidemiology. Despite her short stay, she made significant contributions to both wet lab research and metagenomic data analysis. Before completing her ESEP program, she delivered a comprehensive presentation summarizing her findings.

The August issue of "HIGHLIGHTING Japan," a monthly online magazine published by Public Relations Office, Government of Japan, featured an article introducing the research of Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima. The article is available in both Japanese and English, and includes a photo provided by the Imperial Household Agency.

● Masaaki Kitajima (2025) [Science and Technology — The Next Generation of Young Leaders] Wastewater Surveillance: Detecting Viruses in Wastewater and Monitoring Infectious Disease Trends, Public Relations Office Government of Japan, HIGHLIGHTING Japan, Vol.206, August.

Two papers by research teams in which Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima is involved have been available as preprints.

● Michio Murakami, Saeko Morikawa, Kaori Yamamoto, Yukino Yasuda, Hiroki Ando, D. Motooka, Masaaki Kitajima, Naomi Sakon (2025) Early Prediction of Type-Specific Influenza Incidence using Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (July 25). Preprint available at SSRN: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5365709
● Junxiong Pang, Judith Chui Ching Wong, Suci Melati Wulandari, Martin Tay, Erik Karlsson, Vicka Oktaria, Imran Nisar, Munirul Alam, Indah Kartika Murni, Afreenish Amir, Farah Ishtiaq, Zhang Tong, Masaaki Kitajima, Monica Nolan, Sandy Mak, Sebastian Maurer-Stroh, Gavin James Smith, De Alwis Adamberage Ruklanthi, Yann Felix Boucher, Lee Ching Ng, Paul Michael Pronyk, Asia Pathogen Genomic Initiative Wastewater Surveillance Consortium (2025) Wastewater surveillance for early pathogen detection in Asia (June 26). Preprint available at VeriXiv: https://doi.org/10.12688/verixiv.1247.1

At the 5th International Forum on Asian Water Environment Technology (IFAWET-5) to be held in Dehradun, India from 6th to 8th August, Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima will give a Plenary Talk as an expert speaker, and M1 student Mr. Shusuke Araki will give an oral presentation.

● [Invited lecture] Masaaki Kitajima (2025) Advancing Wastewater-Based Epidemiology in Japan: From Technological Innovation to Social Implementation [Plenary Talk], The 5th International Forum on Asian Water Environment Technology (IFAWET-5), 8 Aug, Dehradun, India.
● [Oral presentation] Shusuke Araki, Vu Duc Canh, Ryo Iwamoto, Yoshinori Ando, Hiroyuki Katayama and Masaaki Kitajima (2025) Airport wastewater surveillance: An efficient tool for monitoring imported infectious diseases, The 5th International Forum on Asian Water Environment Technology (IFAWET-5), 6-8 Aug, Dehradun, India.

Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima will be a panelist at a webinar held by Turkish Water Institute (SUEN) and Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) on July 14.

"Implementation of COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance in the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Village, Summer 2021", Wastewater Surveillance: Public Health Protection at Global Events, SUEN-IsDB Webinar, July 14, Online.

Postgraduate student, Shusuke Araki (M1) won the Excellent Presentation Award at WET2025 held in Nagaoka city on July 5th and 6th. Congratulations!

At WET2025 (Water and Environment Technology Conference) to be held at City Hall Plaza Aore Nagaoka on 5-6 July, researchers and graduate students supervised by Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima and Project Prof. Hiroyuki Katayama will give presentations as follows.

At WaterMicro2025 (June 15-20, Netherlands), hosted by the IWA Specialist Group Health-related Water Microbiology, Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima will be session chair and give an oral presentation and Project Assoc. Prof. Ryota Gomi will give a poster presentation. Also, there is a presentation where Dr. Vu Duc Canh is an co-author.

● Ryota Gomi, Fumie Adachi："Genetic contexts of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance genes in environmental Escherichia coli", Poster 2C-3.
● Shotaro Torii, Vu Duc Canh, Shin Takahashi, Michinobu Kuwae, Masaaki Kitajima, Michio Murakami： "Usefulness of Sediment Core Samples as a Naturally Preserved Biobank Reflecting the Historical Emission of Health-Related Microorganisms", Poster 3C-14.
● Shotaro Torii, Masaaki Kitajima, Kumiko Oguma, Hiroyuki Katayama："Simultaneous detection of protozoa, bacteria and viruses in tap and river waters by membrane adsorption and direct nucleic acid extraction", Poster 3C-15.
● Masaaki Kitajima, Michio Murakami, Hiroki Ando, Ryo Yamaguchi："Evaluating technical requirements in wastewater-based epidemiological surveillance for accurate COVID-19 incidence estimation", Oral 4B-5.

Dr. Nao Yamamoto from New York University joined the Laboratory of International Wastewater-based Epidemiology as a visiting researcher on June 1st.

Dr. Nao Yamamoto is a Postdoctoral Fellow at New York University, Grossman School of Medicine. She received her PhD in Applied Mathematics for Life and Social Sciences from Arizona State University in 2023. Her research focuses on applying network science and mathematical modeling to improve the predictability of infectious disease dynamics. She is broadly interested in interdisciplinary and intercultural approaches to public health research that integrate quantitative methods with real-world complexity.

Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima appeared on Senator Hiroaki Shiota's YouTube channel and had a discussion. Senator Shiota is the chair of the Komeito Party's project team for promoting wastewater surveillance (epidemiological surveys), and in the video he spoke about his calls for the expansion of wastewater surveillance in the Diet.

Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima (International Wastewater-based Epidemiology) will give an invited lecture at Symposium 5(PDF) "Current Status and Future Challenges of Microbial Monitoring" at the 98th Annual Meeting of Japanese Society for Bacteriology to be held in Kanazawa City from May 29th to 31st.

Wastewater-based Epidemiology: New Research Developments in the Post-COVID Era, 第98回日本細菌学会総会, May 29, 石川県立音楽堂.

A paper by Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima (International Wastewater-based Epidemiology) on the development of virus concentration from wastewater using a coagulant with magnetic materials has been published online by ACS ES&T Water. This is a joint research project with Shionogi & Co. Ltd./AdvanSentinel Inc. and Hokkaido University.

Ryo Iwamoto, Satoshi Okabe, and Masaaki Kitajima (2025) Development of a Rapid, Cost-Effective, and Automatable Virus Concentration from Wastewater Using a Coagulant with Magnetic Materials, ACS ES&T Water. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.5c00027

Research on the Tanaka Project* of the JST-Mirai-Program was featured in the May issue of JSTnews. Project Prof. Hiroaki Tanaka of Shinshu University (Project Leader) and Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima (One of the Collaborators) were interviewed. The research overview of the whole project and Project Prof. Kitajima's research were covered. (Image: Courtesy of JSTnews)

田中宏明・北島正章 (2025) 特集１: 安全安心に管理できる水インフラの概念実証 健康リスクを低減する社会の実現を目指して, JSTnews 5月号, pp.3-7.

* Tanaka Project
Mission area：Most Safe and Secure Society in the world
Prioritized Themes：Realization of a safe, secure, and comfortable town free from hazardous substances hiding in the living environment
Project：Realization of Safe and Secured Water Cycle System Supporting Healthy Society and People

At the 14th Pediatric Respiratory Virus Infection research meeting, to be held online on May 15th, Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima (International Wastewater-based Epidemiology) will give a special lecture, and a collaborating researcher from the Department of Pediatrics, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences will give an oral presentation.

●北島正章 (2025) 下水疫学：患者検体に依存しない病原体サーベイランス [特別講演], 第14回小児呼吸器ウイルス感染症研究会, May 15, WEB配信.
●太刀川潤, 羽深理恵, 相澤悠太, Nur Irma Safitri, 北島正章, 齋藤昭彦 (2025) 新潟市における小児のウイルス感染症に対する下水サーベイランスの取り組み, 第14回小児呼吸器ウイルス感染症研究会, May 15, WEB配信.

A paper on the application of high-sensitivity detection technology of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater to air has been published in Sci Rep in a joint research project by Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima, Shionogi & CO., LTD., and other.

Tomoyo Yoshinaga, Yoshinori Ando, Yumi Sato, Takeru Kishida & Masaaki Kitajima (2025) Development of COPMAN-Air method for high-sensitivity detection of SARS-CoV-2 in air, Scientific Reports, 15, 14340. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-99365-2

Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima will be taking part in a panel discussion at the public symposium "Challenge Engineering! -Towards 2050 with 'IKIGAI'-" to be held at Muroran Institute of Technology in the afternoon of May 2. The symposium is hosted by the Computer Science Center of the university and co-hosted by the Science, Technology and Innovation 2050 Committee (STI2050) of the Engineering Academy of Japan, with Project Prof. Kitajima serving as the secretary of STI2050.

公開シンポジウム「挑め、工学！ ―"IKIGAI"ある2050年に向けて―」, May 2, 室蘭工業大学大学会館　多目的ホール.

Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima and researchers from the Department of Pediatrics at Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences conducted a joint research and made a poster presentation below at the 128th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Pediatric Society, held at Port Messe Nagoya from April 18th to 20th.

●太刀川 潤, 羽深理恵, 相澤悠太, 山中崇之, 樋浦誠, 本間丈成, 大久保総一朗, 遠山潤, 塚野真也, 北島正章, 齋藤昭彦 (2025) 新潟市における下水サーベイランスを用いたパレコウイルス-A感染症流行の把握.
●羽深理恵, 太刀川潤, 相澤悠太, 山中崇之, 塚野真也, 大久保総一朗, 樋浦誠, 小林悠, 遠山潤, 本間丈成, 北島正章, 齋藤昭彦 (2025) 新潟市における下水サーベイランスによる小児呼吸器感染症の流行予測.

Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima responded to an interview with Kyodo News. Then, the Sankei Shimbun and many local newspapers reported the issue as follows:

●感染症を空港の排水でいち早く把握 国際研究、万博中実施へ 東大ら専門家グループ, 産経新聞, Apr 6.
●《大阪・関西万博　EXPO2025》新型コロナ サル痘 インフル　デング熱 空港排水で感染症検知を 開催期間中に国際研究, 上毛新聞, Apr 7.
●空港排水で感染症把握 東大など万博で実施へ, 福井新聞, Apr 7.
●感染症、空港排水で把握　国際研究、万博中実施へ　東大チーム, 山陰中央新報デジタル, Apr 7.
●EXPO2025＝感染症、空港排水で把握 東大チームなど 国際研究、万博中実施へ, 四国新聞, Apr 7.

Project Prof. Masaaki Kitajima appeared in a YouTube video. He talked with the ITTO Gaienmae Festival Team LH members about when he became interested in wastewater research, why he started researching viruses, and the research he began in earnest during his university days.