Award purpose. This cooperative agreement aims to design, develop, and validate innovative, field deployable diagnostic platforms for detecting highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in poultry,…

The Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service awarded a $1.991 million Cooperative Agreement to the University of Pittsburgh on February 2, 2026, to design, develop, and validate field-deployable diagnostic platforms for detecting highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in poultry, wild birds, and environmental reservoirs. This award funds work under CFDA 10.025, Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care.

The project delivers two diagnostic technologies: miniaturized electrochemical sensors and aptamer-peptide hybrid lateral flow assays (LFA), both engineered to provide rapid, cost-effective detection across poultry swabs, wild bird droppings, and environmental samples. Key activities include designing and optimizing viral capture using antibody-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles and H5-specific aptamers, assembling and optimizing diagnostic kits for electrochemical sensors (E2RC and EGFET) and hybrid LFA platforms, and benchmarking these platforms against qRT-PCR for sensitivity, specificity, and speed. Field validation will occur in collaboration with National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) labs in Pennsylvania and South Dakota per World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) guidelines. The project addresses critical gaps in current HPAI surveillance by reducing reliance on time-consuming, resource-intensive qRT-PCR testing and aligns with USDA's HPAI Poultry Innovation Grand Challenge Topic Area 3, which seeks novel diagnostics and improved biosecurity solutions to minimize depopulation needs.

Performance occurs in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a period of performance through February 1, 2029.

Activities

Key activ ities include: 1. Design and optimize viral capture using antibody functionalized magnetic nanoparticles and H5-specific aptamers to improve detection sensitivity and specificity. 2. Assemble diagnostic kits for electrochemical sensors (E2RC and egfet) and aptamer-peptide hybrid LFA and optimize the testing conditions. 3. Benchmarking and field validation: compare the diagnostic platforms against QRT-PCR for sensitivity, specificity, and speed, and conduct field validation using poultry, wild bird, and environmental samples in collaboration with nahln labs in pennsylvania and south dakota, per woah guidelines. Deliverables and expected outcomes: the project will deliver validated electrochemical sensors and hybrid LFA platforms for hpai detection, optimized for both sensitivity and field applicability. These diagnostic tools will be rigorously benchmarked against QRT-PCR for accuracy, speed, and reliability. The outcome will be peer-reviewed publications detailing test performance, field validation results, and operational effectiveness. The tools will significantly enhance diagnostic workflows, providing faster, more reliable outbreak detection and strengthening surveillance capabilities to support rapid hpai containment and continuous monitoring.

Intended beneficiaries

The main beneficiaries of this project are poultry producers, veterinarians, nahln laboratories, and federal and state animal health and wildlife agencies.

Subrecipient activities

Subrecipient DR. Ebrahimi at the department of electrical engineering, pennsylvania state university, will develop the miniaturized electrochemical sensors, ensuring their functionality and integration with the diagnostic platforms.