Keynote Presentation: Pathogen Discovery and Diagnostic Tools for Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention with Live Q&A

Emerging viruses like SARS, SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV, Hendra, Nipah, West Nile, sin nombre, LuJo, MERS, Powassan, dengue, chikungunya, zika, Ebola, and Marburg pose a growing threat to public health. Rapid and earlier discovery of these viruses before/upon their entry into the human population could have facilitated rapid identification, blood supply protection, prevention of human-to-human transmission, containment, and targeted drug/vaccine design to curtail disease spread. The weight of emerging infectious disease burden is exacerbated by endemic viral and bacterial infections, as well as the challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Unveiling and characterizing new viruses in humans and wildlife, including bats, rodents, live-stock and non-human primates, especially viruses with zoonotic potential are essential for future pandemic prevention. Our understanding of viral diversity, distribution, and circulation is still limited, thus finding any novel and an unknown virus is difficult and require sensitive highthroughput discovery tools.

We pioneered state-of-the-art; 1] molecular detection tools: VirCapSeq-VERT (for viruses) and BacCapSeq (for bacteria and AMR), both exhibit ~3-4 logs increased sensitivity than standard unbiased highthroughput sequencing, and 2] highthroughput serology: NGSeroDx, that enables indirect detection by identifying intricate immune responses against microbial infections. These technologies have the potential to revolutionize clinical microbiology, infectious disease research, and public health efforts by contributing to enhanced preparedness for health emergencies and identification of novel infectious agents. Operational simplicity and rapid turnaround make them valuable tools by advancing pathogen discovery, rapid detection, and characterization of all known and novel viral and bacterial infections in less than 24 hours. We can also apply these tools for rapid and efficient clinical diagnosis for timely clinical interventions. Recently VirCapSeq-VERT obtained NYSDOH-CLEP approval for clinical testing, and other methods are also in process of obtaining regulatory approvals for clinical uses.  We also foster wider use of our tools by comprehensive global collaboration through the Global Alliance for Preventing Pandemics (GAPP) program.

Learning Objects:

1. Evaluate cutting-edge molecular and serological diagnostic technologies, VirCapSeq-VERT, BacCapSeq, and NGSeroDx for the simultaneous detection of viral and bacterial infections with high sensitivity and specificity.

2. Recognize sustainable global infrastructure for microbial discovery, surveillance, diagnostics, and response through capacity building and the pursuit of research questions that focus on the emerging infections, zoonoses, potential pathogenesis of unexplained illnesses and cross-species transmission of infectious diseases.

3. Discover a secure cloud-based system for data processing and analysis, enabling seamless communication and sharing of sequencing data and expertise within the network and with stakeholders and public health agencies worldwide. This system will promote situational awareness, track pathogen evolution, and aid in identifying sites for sample collection and clinical trials.