Timely tracking of outbreaks
The transmission of infectious diseases has been accelerated by worldwide technologic, demographic and climate change. Epidemics and pandemics such as Ebola, Zika and COVID-19 demonstrate how pathogens can spread undetected for some time before being diagnosed. Global warming, a mobile, growing population and increasing urbanization have all contributed to an environment in which monitoring pathogenic microorganisms has become crucial. Strategies and tools must continue evolving to meet the needs of the global population and aid in the timely detection, tracking and study of outbreaks.
Methods to predict, monitor and treat infectious disease
A variety of methods are used in researching infection and communicable diseases.
- Pathogen surveillance – the ongoing collection, analysis and interpretation of data to help prevent and control outbreaks. Key tools include genomic testing, data generation and sharing.
- Epidemiological monitoring and screening – algorithms aid in early detection and help limit impact. Early identification of emerging variants helps shape critical public health interventions.
Yet, infectious disease research faces challenges. Active disease monitoring, drug discovery and the establishment of anti-infection strategies are expensive and time-consuming. Traditional technologies, such as testing for pathogens individually, limit flexibility and cannot keep pace with mutations. Genomic- and proteomic-based tools that can quicken and scale pathogen detection can guide the development of effective therapeutics, identifying novel patterns and mechanisms of resistance, assessing immune response, performing timely detection and tracking of outbreaks, and monitoring the spread of emerging pathogens.
Applications using high-dimensional analysis of pathogens and of immune response to infection
Pathogen detection
Amid rising threats like disease outbreaks and antimicrobial resistance, accurate and fast pathogen detection and surveillance are essential. Shedding light on the microbial world can be laborious and expensive, and challenges like limited target capacity, pathogen diversity, sample volume and throughput limitations, slow turnaround time and a high risk of manual error highlight the need for more nimble and innovative solutions.
Immune profiling
Identifying and quantifying immune populations according to their phenotypic and functional features can shed light on mechanisms of disease and improve patient stratification and monitoring treatment efficacy. Immune profiling is a powerful tool for capturing the highly individual nature of immune response and supporting the prediction of health outcomes.
Infection dynamics
Visualization of the spatial distribution of pathogens and the host immune response can reveal the dynamics of infection and what the immune system can and cannot do to combat it, further building a foundation for targeted therapies. Technological advances allow us to not only see what things are but what they do, which exponentially increases our knowledge of how we can detect and react to disease and is key in understanding response to pathogens and pathogen behavior and activity within the human body.
Solutions at all levels of research
Standard BioTools uniquely scalable technologies offer the highest levels of content and precision in the life science industry, enabling researchers to discover novel biological insights not accessible by other approaches.
Key publications showcasing Standard BioTools technologies
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Pathogen detection, identification and surveillance
Rapid detection methods, such as PCR testing, that preserve sample identity and data integrity are becoming more prominent in research laboratories and clinical settings. As the global population grows and human-wildlife contact increases, emerging diseases become more and more complicated, and the ability to test a large number of pathogens with the flexibility to add, remove or replace assays as needed is crucial.