![New Method to Find Antibiotic-Resistant Genes Shows Limits of 'Snapshot' Samples, Chlorination](https://cole-tpomag.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tpomag.com%2Fuploads%2Fimages%2Frice-study-antibiotics.jpeg?crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=620&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=75&w=1024&s=e30dbd297f7149bcafb046ed27e7a091)
Rice University engineer Lauren Stadler and her team compared wastewater "snapshots" to daylong composite samples and found snapshots lead to bias in testing for the presence of antibiotic-resistant genes. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
Testing the contents of a simple sample of wastewater can reveal a lot about what it carries, but fails to tell the whole story, according to Rice University engineers.
Their new study shows that composite samples taken over 24 hours at an urban wastewater plant give a much more...