Study on Detecting & Preventing Pandemics

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is funding a series of projects totaling $72 million to bring together four multidisciplinary research and training, technology, data, and collaborations to address the broad range of diseases drastically impacting life on Earth.

The goal is to bring experts together in biology, computer science, AI, and engineering, plus more that can be used to predict, prevent, and respond to potential pandemics across all forms of life and then be able to safeguard health, economic stability, and the security of the U.S.

The establishment of the network of team-based centers will accelerate fundamental R&D activities to develop methods and tools that will help predict and mitigate future pandemics.

To achieve this goal, the projects will bring together experts in biological sciences, computer and information sciences, engineering, mathematical and physical sciences, and social sciences to target primary areas.

The projects to be funded by NSF's "Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention" (PIPP) program, were initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic to address both the immediate and broad range of diseases impacting life on Earth.

The Four PIPP Phase II Centers include:

• The NSF Pandemic Environmental Survelliance Center for Assessing Pathogen Emergence (NSF ESCAPE) led by the University of Kentucky will combine social science engineering, bioinformatics, and risk modeling.
• The NSF Center of Analysis and Prediction of Pandemic Expansion (NSF APPEX) led by the University of Tennessee will focus on identifying the factors that can turn an infection into a pandemic.
• The NSF Center for Pandemic Insights (NSF CPI) led by the University of California, Davis, will focus on investigations into the pre-emergence phase of pandemic threats in order to identify key events that precipitate pandemics, and then find solutions to incorporate One-Health perspectives.
• The NSF Center for Community Empowering Pandemic Prediction and Prevention from Atoms to Societies (NSF COMPASS) led by Virginia Tech is going to discover the genetic, molecular, cellular, and chemical rules of life that underlie virus-host interactions.