Completed Public Health & Healthcare Infection & Immunity

Translating whole genome sequence technology into diagnostic and public health microbiology

Funder NIHR (part of DHSC)
Recipient organisation University of Cambridge
Funding £1.9M
Period Jan 2014 — Jun 2021

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A hospital diagnostic lab in Cambridge will sequence the entire genetic code of every disease-causing microbe it encounters, turning routine testing into a real-time surveillance system for infectious threats. Current public health labs rely on older genotyping methods that are too slow or too imprecise to reliably track how pathogens spread, spot emerging outbreaks, or detect when a vaccine is losing its effectiveness. This technology gap means health authorities often react to outbreaks only after they have already taken hold. Professor Sharon Peacock and her team at Cambridge University, working with the NHS, the Health Protection Agency, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, aim to embed whole genome sequencing directly into a clinical and public health laboratory. If successful, the system would allow health officials to trace transmission chains, identify new threats, and monitor vaccine escape in near real-time—scaling from a single hospital ward to national surveillance. The research will also work out the practical steps needed to integrate genomics into everyday diagnostic practice, so that the infrastructure quietly protecting public health becomes faster, more precise, and more responsive.

View original technical description
Effective mechanisms of surveillance are required to track disease trends, identify new infectious disease threats, detect serious outbreaks, monitor control measures, design effective vaccines and monitor for vaccine escape. The present public health system falls short of what is required because of a technology gap whereby it is not possible to make rapid or in some cases accurate inferences regarding pathogen outbreaks and transmission events using the currently available microbial genotyping methodology. Through this award to Cambridge University, Professor Sharon Peacock will seek a solution to this need through the development of a world-class system of active surveillance based on microbial whole genome sequencing (WGS), in collaboration with the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, the Health Protection Agency and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. The aim is to embed a genome sequence-driven microbiology initiative within a clinical campus, working alongside a hospital diagnostic and public health laboratory. Key objectives are to understand how to apply genomics to address the problems of infectious disease control scaled to local, regional or national levels, and how to integrate this technology into on-going practice so as to expand and enhance the current system of infectious diseases surveillance conducted.

View the original record at the funder ↗

Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

Translating whole genome sequence technology into diagnostic and public health microbiology.
Implementation of microbial whole-genome sequencing for individual patient care, local outbreak recognition and national surveillance
Implementation of microbial whole-genome sequencing for individual patient care, local outbreak recognition and national surveillance.
Using genomics to understand Salmonella transmission from farm-to-fork and the environment in the Philippines
Genomic epidemiology of infectious disease outbreaks

Original classification

Research

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.