Cooperative Agreement AP23OA000000C011

THE PURPOSE OF THIS AWARD IS TO DEVELOP SURVEILLANCE TOOLS AND STRATEGIES FOR THE RAPID DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NEW VARIANTS OF SARS-COV-2 TO SUPPORT AN EARLY WARNING SYSTEM TO PREVENT OR LIMIT FUTURE SARS COV-2 OUTBREAKS. THE TEAM PROPOSES TO CONVERT A VALIDATED TARGETED NEXT-GENERATION SEQUENCING (TNGS) PANEL THEY DEVELOPED IN THEIR LABORATORY FOR DETECTION OF MANY PATHOGENS IN ANIMALS, INCLUDING SARS-COV-2, FROM A SHORT-READ NGS PLATFORM THAT IS TOO COSTLY FOR SURVEILLANCE USE, TO A PLATFORM THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT OR MATERIALS FOR SEQUENCING, TO BE USED FOR WILDLIFE SURVEILLANCE TESTING. ADDITIONALLY, THEY PROPOSE ADDING THE ABILITY TO SEQUENCE SARS-COV-2 CONCURRENTLY IN THE SAME TEST TO PROVIDE REDUCED TURNAROUND TIME TO ACT ON AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY. THIS PROJECT WILL MEET THE NEED OF DEVELOPING A TEST FOR DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SARS-COV-2, IN ADDITION TO DETECTION OF OTHER PATHOGENS THAT MAY BE OF SIGNIFICANCE TO ANIMAL AND HUMAN HEALTH, USING A COST EFFECTIVE PROTOCOL THAT CAN BE SHARED ACROSS LABORATORIES, INCLUDING THOSE WITH LIMITED RESOURCES. THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO EXPAND SARS-COV-2 TESTING TO A POPULATION OF WILDLIFE THAT HAS NOT BEEN PREVIOUSLY TESTED. THE RECIPIENT MUST MEET THE OBJECTIVES AND DELIVERABLES STATED IN THEIR WORK PLAN AND MUST COMPLETE QUARTERLY FINANCIAL AND PERFORMANCE REPORTS AND A FINAL ACCOMPLISHMENT REPORT. THE END USER IS THE ANIMAL DIAGNOSTIC/RESEARCH LABORATORY, WHICH SERVES THE BROADER COMMUNITY. TARGETED NEXT-GENERATION SEQUENCING (TNGS) ALLOWS (1) SENSITIVE DETECTION AND (2) SEQUENCING OF SARS-COV-2. MOVING A TNGS PANEL WE DEVELOPED AND USE WITH SHORT-READ TECHNOLOGY TO THE OXFORD NANOPORE TECHNOLOGIES PLATFORM WILL REDUCE TEST COSTS, MAKING THE TEST ACCESSIBLE TO ALMOST ANY LABORATORY TO USE FOR SURVEILLANCE PURPOSES IN WILDLIFE. THE DELIVERABLE IS A TEST THAT WILL DETECT SARS-COV-2, DETECT MIXED INFECTIONS INCLUDING OTHER PATHOGENS POTENTIALLY IMPORTANT FROM A Z OONOTIC PROSPECTIVE IN MESOCARNIVORES, AND SEQUENCE ANY SARS-COV-2 PRESENT IN THE SAMPLE, WITH A SENSITIVITY THAT EXCEEDS METAGENOMICS APPROACHES. NO SUBAWARDS ARE PLANNED.