Location: Foreign Arthropod Borne Animal Disease Research
Project Number: 3022-32000-024-001-N
Project Type: Non-Funded Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Mar 1, 2018
End Date: Feb 28, 2023
Objective:
Develop and expedite the evaluation and standardization of Arbovirus diagnostic assays.
Approach:
This project will utilize the vector-borne disease expertise of the ARS, Arthropod-Borne Animal Diseases Research Unit (ABADRU) and the animal diagnostic expertise of the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria (UP), to develop, evaluate, and standardize diagnostic assays for arboviruses. The approach will be to evaluate existing and newly developed vaccines and diagnostic technologies in comparison to current tools. The collaborative project will include the evaluation of existing and newly developed diagnostic tests such as various viral genome amplification assays (real-time RT-PCR and metagenomics sequencing) and immunological assays (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and lateral flow assays) based on recombinant antigens. This will be achieved through provision of access to biological material for direct comparison of available assays in both field-deployable and diagnostic laboratory-based formats. This will include development and evaluation of new technology for arbovirus discovery and characterization. The goal is to provide information, recommendations for standardized diagnostics and new scientific tools that can be universally applied by international disease outbreak response teams.
