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Title: Agnostic capture of pathogens for the detection and diagnostics of emerging threats

Journal Article · · iScience

The continued emergence of pathogens, whether novel, re-emerging, or engineered, poses a persistent global biosecurity and public health challenge. Recent outbreaks, including COVID-19, Lassa fever, Marburg virus, mpox, and avian influenza, underscore the urgent need for robust systems that enable rapid surveillance, early diagnosis, and timely countermeasures before widespread human transmission occurs. In this article, we focus on early detection technologies and systematically evaluate current diagnostic and sensing modalities. We highlight sequencing and spectroscopy as two complementary approaches capable of providing broad, agnostic detection and rich biological insight. Our analysis emphasizes that scientific innovation alone is insufficient: effective preparedness also requires improved data curation, integration, and sharing to build AI-ready resources that accelerate future responses. We argue for coordinated advances in both technological capabilities and supporting infrastructure to enable the rapid identification and characterization of emerging pathogens and to fully leverage modern science against evolving infectious threats.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Biological Systems Science (BSS)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
3025699
Journal Information:
iScience, Journal Name: iScience Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 29; ISSN 2589-0042
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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