Smart standardization, harmonization, and knowledge translation approaches for effective infectious disease sero-surveillance and epidemic preparedness

Antibody testing of blood samples, also called serological surveys, help scientists and public health responders understand how many people have been exposed to an infectious disease and how well populations are protected. These studies became vital during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are often underused due to their high variation in methods, reporting styles, and laboratory tests. In addition, results are shared independently and scattered across many sources. As a result, antibody data are hard to compare and difficult for governments and health agencies to actually use to guide decisions during outbreaks. To solve this problem, my team created SeroTracker, a global data platform that gathers and visualizes results from thousands of serological studies. SeroTracker now contains information from over 4,500 studies on COVID-19, MERS, and mosquito-borne viruses, and has been used by the World Health Organization and other public health agencies around the world. For my doctoral research at Heidelberg University Hospital's Institute for Global Health (HIGH), I will build on this work to make antibody data more standardized, connected, and useful for tracking and responding to outbreaks. My project will: (1) study how consistent research methods improve the usefulness of serology results; (2) link antibody data with other disease information, such as lab testing and genetic data, to create better estimates of infection and immunity; and (3) develop and test online dashboards to make the results easier to access and use by decision-makers. This research provide tools to improve how Canada and other countries monitor population immunity, supporting faster and more coordinated responses to future infectious disease outbreaks and public health emergencies.