Tamar Kohn
EPFL ENAC IIE LEV
GR A0 402 (Bâtiment GR)
Station 2
1015 Lausanne
+41 21 693 80 56
+41 21 693 08 91
Office: GR A0 402
EPFL › ENAC › IIE › LEV
Website: https://lev.epfl.ch/
EPFL ENAC IIE LEV
GR A0 402 (Bâtiment GR)
Station 2
1015 Lausanne
+41 21 693 08 91
Office: GR A0 402
EPFL › ENAC › ENAC-DEC › ENAC-DIR
Website: https://www.epfl.ch/schools/enac/about/organization/
Expertise
Waterborne pathogens
Airborne pathogens
Environmental virology
Sanitation and hygiene
Mission
2014 - 2023 Associate Professor, EPFL
2014 - present Adjunct researcher, Eawag
2007 - 2013 Assistant Professor, EPFL
2004 - 2006 Postdoctoral researcher, UC Berkeley
2000 - 2004 PhD, Environmental Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
1999 Diploma, Environmental Sciences, ETHZ
Journal articles (last 3 years)
2025
Lognormal distributions capture site-specific variability in enteric virus concentrations in wastewater
Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology. 2025. DOI : 10.1039/d5ew00286a.Performance and characteristics of three digital PCR platforms for detection and quantification of viral targets in wastewater
Journal of Applied Microbiology. 2025. DOI : 10.1093/jambio/lxaf243.Unraveling the Inactivation Mechanisms of Human Adenovirus 2 in Sunlight Disinfection: Synergism between Direct and Indirect Pathways
Environmental Science & Technology. 2025. DOI : 10.1021/acs.est.5c06149.Comparative characterization of bronchial and nasal mucus reveals key determinants of influenza A virus inhibition
mSphere. 2025. DOI : 10.1128/msphere.00365-25.Estimated transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 variants from wastewater are unbiased and robust to differential shedding
Nature Communications. 2025. DOI : 10.1038/s41467-025-62790-y.Transmission dynamics of Norovirus GII and Enterovirus in Switzerland during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021-2022) as evidenced in wastewater
Epidemics. 2025. DOI : 10.1016/j.epidem.2025.100851.Inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 at acidic pH is driven by partial unfolding of spike
Communications Biology. 2025. DOI : 10.1038/s42003-025-08514-w.Conserved specificity of extracellular wastewater peptidases revealed by multiplex substrate profiling by mass spectrometry
Environmental Chemistry Letters. 2025. DOI : 10.1007/s10311-025-01834-7.Seasonality of cyanobacteria and eukaryotes in Lake Geneva and the impacts of cyanotoxins on growth of the model ciliate Tetrahymena pyriformis
Aquatic Toxicology. 2025. DOI : 10.1016/j.aquatox.2025.107262.Diversity of lake bacteria promotes human echovirus inactivation
Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 2025. DOI : 10.1128/aem.02366-24.2024
Dependence of aerosol-borne influenza A virus infectivity on relative humidity and aerosol composition
Frontiers in Microbiology. 2024. DOI : 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1484992.Salt Supersaturation as an Accelerator of Influenza A Virus Inactivation in 1 μL Droplets
Environmental Science & Technology. 2024. DOI : 10.1021/acs.est.4c04734.Impact of organic compounds on the stability of influenza A virus in deposited 1-μL droplets
mSphere. 2024. DOI : 10.1128/msphere.00414-24.The early communication stages between serine proteases and enterovirus capsids in the race for viral disintegration
Communications Biology. 2024. DOI : 10.1038/s42003-024-06627-2.Influence of Amino Acid Substitutions in Capsid Proteins of Coxsackievirus B5 on Free Chlorine and Thermal Inactivation
Environmental Science & Technology. 2024. DOI : 10.1021/acs.est.3c10409.Monitoring an Emergent Pathogen at Low Incidence in Wastewater Using qPCR: Mpox in Switzerland
Food and Environmental Virology. 2024. DOI : 10.1007/s12560-024-09603-5.Stability of influenza A virus in droplets and aerosols is heightened by the presence of commensal respiratory bacteria
Journal of Virology. 2024. DOI : 10.1128/jvi.00409-24.Comparison of Three Viral Nucleic Acid Preamplification Pipelines for Sewage Viral Metagenomics
Food and Environmental Virology. 2024. DOI : 10.1007/s12560-024-09594-3.Waterborne Virus Transport and Risk Assessment in Lake Geneva Under Climate Change
Earth's Future. 2024. DOI : 10.1029/2023EF003831.2023
Inactivation mechanisms of influenza A virus under pH conditions encountered in aerosol particles as revealed by whole-virus HDX-MS
mSphere. 2023. DOI : 10.1128/msphere.00226-23.Doctoral theses
Inactivation of influenza A virus in expiratory droplets and aerosol particles and the associated physicochemical drivers
Lausanne, EPFL, 2024. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-10449.Numerical simulation of the fate, transport and public health risks of enteric viruses in Lake Geneva
Lausanne, EPFL, 2023. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-10322.Effect of wastewater treatment and environmental exposure on an enterovirus population
Lausanne, EPFL, 2022. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-8985.Toward biocontrol of waterborne pathogens: contributions of protists to virus removal and associated mechanisms
Lausanne, EPFL, 2022. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-9255.Susceptibility of Enterovirus B strains to disinfectants and heat
Lausanne, EPFL, 2019. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-9343.Inactivation of waterborne viruses by ozone: Kinetics and mechanisms
Lausanne, EPFL, 2019. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-9370.Virus transfer at the skin-liquid interface and its associated risks
Lausanne, EPFL, 2018. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-8961.Genotypic, phenotypic and mechanistic insights into viruses with resistance to common water disinfectants
Lausanne, EPFL, 2017. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-7538.Virus inactivation mechanisms in human urine and fecal sludge
Lausanne, EPFL, 2015. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-6579.Mechanistic insight into virus disinfection : influence of virus characteristics, solution composition and surface interactions
Lausanne, EPFL, 2014. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-6166.Virus Inactivation during Water Treatment : the Role of Virus Aggregation and the Disinfection Potential of Sunlight
Lausanne, EPFL, 2013. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-5873.Sources, Spreading and Fate of Antibiotic Resistance Genes and Resistant Bacteria in Vidy Bay, Lake Geneva, Switzerland
Lausanne, EPFL, 2013. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-5637.Spatio-Temporal Presence of Micropollutants and their Metabolites in Lake Geneva and Susceptibility to Direct and Indirect Photodegradation Processes
Lausanne, EPFL, 2013. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-5677.Virus Inactivation by Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Fenton-like Processes
Lausanne, EPFL, 2012. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-5295.Teaching & PhD
Current Phd
Taylor Oran Medina, Josephine Lederballe Meibom, Vidhi Ketan Dholakia, Alissa Agerova, Hui Dong, Madeline Emma Deck
Past Phd As Director
Jessica Ivana Nieto Juarez, Michael Jon Mattle, Florence Bonvin, Nadine Czekalski, Anne Thérèse Sigstam, Loïc Decrey, Qingxia Zhong, Ana Karina Pitol Garcia, Camille Wolf, Simon Meister, Odile Hervás de Nalda-Larivé, Margot Ninon Lauren Olive, Chaojie Li, Aline Laetitia Schaub
Past Phd As Codirector
Courses
Environmental chemistry
This course provides students with an overview over the basics of environmental chemistry. This includes the chemistry of natural systems, as well as the fate of anthropogenic chemicals in natural systems. It enables students to apply general chemical concepts to natural systems.
Introduction to environmental engineering
Key themes in environmental science and engineering will be show-cased, with examples - from equator to the poles - including atmospheric processes and climate change, water quality, energy resources and urban development, with the amazing technologies used to study and address current challenges.