Pandemic Sciences Institute

📢 NEWS: ISARIC - International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium is entering a new era. ISARIC is a global, grass-roots consortium of over 70 clinical research networks in 140 countries, working together to prevent illness and deaths from disease outbreaks. With support from Wellcome Trust, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Gates Foundation, ISARIC will:   🌍 Increase research capacity around the world 📚 Launch programmes to train the next generation of research leaders based in low- and middle-income countries 🔬 Improve clinical trial designs to better understand infectious diseases. With Hubs in South America, Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, ISARIC’s Global Support Centre is hosted here at the Pandemic Sciences Institute in Oxford. Learn more 👉 https://lnkd.in/gkKJeXVW #GlobalHealth #Pandemics #Epidemics #Research

Five years, five life-saving treatments for COVID-19: the RECOVERY trial team has recently been awarded a NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) Impact Prize recognising impact on the health and wealth of the nation. RECOVERY is the largest randomised controlled trial of COVID-19 treatments in the world. Since its launch in March 2020, it has ➡️ Identified five treatments for people hospitalised with COVID-19 pneumonia ➡️ Shown that other commonly used treatments were not effective ➡️ Expanded to test treatments for other types of pneumonia ➡️ Saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives. PSI Director Sir Peter Horby, RECOVERY co-lead, said: "This award is a timely reminder that research created the vaccines and treatments that were our saviour. Continued investment in research is critical for ensuring we have the knowledge and tools ready for the next pandemic." Find out more about RECOVERY's impact 👉 https://buff.ly/QRzp2wA Oxford Population Health | Department of Health and Social Care | #Covid19 | #Pneumonia | #PandemicPreparedness | #ResearchSavesLives

🔖 In a new BMC Medicine paper, PSI researchers call for more aligned practice to guide research prioritisation during high-consequence outbreaks. During infectious disease outbreaks, prioritisation of health research is essential to address knowledge gaps and support rapid and efficient response. There has been limited analysis, however, of how the existing standards are applied in practice when it comes to high-consequence pathogens such as H5N1 virus, SARS-CoV-2 or Ebola virus. For the first time, researchers from the PSI Policy and Practice Research Group in consultation with GloPID-R colleagues have mapped research priority-setting exercises for high-consequence pathogens. By analysing over 100 journal articles and reports, they found that: ➡️ A variety of approaches was used to develop research priorities ➡️ Most publications provided limited details on monitoring and evaluation plans ➡️ The rationale for the involvement of expert consultants was generally not specified Find out more on how research in this area can improve pandemic preparedness and response: https://buff.ly/B4bax7f

The #RECOVERYTrial has now recruited 50,000 participants! 🎉 Set up in the UK in March 2020, RECOVERY has evaluated treatments for COVID-19, community acquired pneumonia (CAP), and flu. RECOVERY is now open to people in hospital with CAP and flu at sites across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Nuffield Department of Medicine | Pandemic Sciences Institute | University of Oxford

📣 Researchers from the University of Oxford and colleagues have published the first paper mapping clinical ethics questions raised by emerging uses of metagenomic techniques for patient diagnosis. For instance, how do patients benefit from an infection diagnosis if no specific treatment exists? When similar issues arise, whether to offer metagenomics testing may be a complicated decision for clinicians. This paper, published Open Access in the Journal of Medical Microbiology, aims to inform their decision-making process by analysing three real-world case studies. The authors' recommendations will help develop ethical frameworks to ultimately improve diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes. Find out more 👉 https://lnkd.in/eA-EJkre Ethox Centre | University of Melbourne | Microbiology Society #MedicalEthics #Metagenomics #InfectiousDisease #PatientDiagnosis

🎭 Come for the theatre, stay for the science 🧪 An upcoming play at Oxford's History of Science Museum relives how smallpox inoculation first came to England. “The Alleviating Art” tells the story of Lady Mary Montagu, who witnessed the practice in Constantinople and campaigned for its adoption in England. Her pioneering work, however, was not met without opposition. Following the play, a panel discussion will explore how this 18th-century story is relevant for public health today. As part of the audience, you will be able to interact with panellists including PSI Investigator Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, Director of Oxford Vaccine Group . 🎟️ Book your tickets: https://lnkd.in/eAv5vBib

This week we welcomed Anthony Afum-Adjei Awuah, PhD to speak to our staff and students in Oxford, the first international guest in our new PSI Seminar Series.    Dr Awuah explored "hidden" epidemics – those that might not be visible from confirmed outbreak data or symptom reporting.    He shared key findings from the SeroCov, SeroDen, and SeroMarv serological studies and discussed:    ➡️ The crucial role of multi-pathogen surveillance in strengthening pandemic preparedness.   ➡️ How multi-pathogen serosurveys help enhance outbreak prediction, response and vaccination strategies.  ➡️ The importance of harmonised methodologies and validation across laboratories.  ➡️ Why collaboration is crucial to create cost-effective, scalable disease surveillance systems.    Thank you to Dr Awuah and our collaborators at  Global Health and Infectious Diseases Group (GHID-KCCR) for their continued partnership and support.    #Pandemics #Epidemics #Covid19 #Dengue #MarburgVirus    Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR)  | Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi |  African Research Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases 

“In the next five years, AI has the potential to transform pandemic preparedness,” says PSI Professor Moritz U G Kraemer, PhD. Medical applications of AI have so far focused primarily on individual patient care. Thanks to recent advances, AI tools now have the potential to improve health for entire populations. University of Oxford scientists have partnered with global colleagues to outline how AI developments can save more lives across high- and low-income countries. Their latest Nature Portfolio paper provides recommendations and identifies opportunities in areas including disease modelling, resource allocation and vaccine development. And human feedback? It will be essential, according to the researchers. The success of AI in improving pandemic preparedness depends on extensive worldwide collaboration between research, policy and society. Read more about the opportunities ahead for AI and pandemic preparedness 👇 https://lnkd.in/eH_EJUBa #ArtificialIntelligence #Pandemics #Epidemics #InfectiousDisease #PublicHealth Oxford Martin School | Department of Biology, University of Oxford | University of California, Berkeley | UCSF UC Berkeley Joint Program in Computational Precision Health | The University of Tokyo | Københavns Universitet - University of Copenhagen | Oxford Vaccine Group | NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre | Imperial College London | Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford | University of Bristol | MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis | Department of Statistics, University of Oxford | Institute for Experiential AI at Northeastern University | Santa Fe Institute | World Health Organization African Region | WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence | CERI - Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation | African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) | Genomics England | Scripps Research | ETH-Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE) | SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics | Ethox Centre | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health | Open Data Institute | UCLA Biostatistics | University of Sydney | Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS) | Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems | ELLIS Institute Tübingen | Royal Veterinary College | Institut Pasteur | Pioneer Centre for AI

Today we are excited to announce a new partnership between PSI and Institut Pasteur de Dakar to advance public health and life sciences research in West Africa.   Together, we will cooperate to: ➡️ Develop vaccines and rapid diagnostics ➡️ Strengthen workforce and capacity in the vaccinology, clinical trials and biomanufacturing sectors   This initiative is steered by PSI Investigator Professor Teresa Lambe (Oxford Vaccine Group and Oxford University Department of Paediatrics) who will lead vaccine development work aiming for impact in West Africa and globally. Find out more about the project’s aims 👇  https://lnkd.in/eUZ6K7wk #Pandemics #Epidemics #LifeSciences #Research #PublicHealth Sir Andrew Pollard | Sir Peter Horby | Cath Green

📢 Call for experts: Help shape a new anti-stigma toolkit With our partners ISARIC - International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium and GOARN - Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, we’re seeking experts with experience in stigma reduction and/or outbreak response to review a draft anti-stigma toolkit and contribute to its finalisation. Stigma during disease outbreaks marginalises people, deepens inequalities and undermines public health responses. Despite its impact, structured guidance for stigma reduction in outbreak settings remains limited. This new toolkit will bridge that gap by providing: ✅ International guiding principles for stigma reduction ✅ Practical recommendations for different groups We are seeking 30 experts to: ➡️ Review the draft toolkit | 2–3 hours between 1–14 April  ➡️ Attend an online consultation meeting | 3 hours on 28 April Register your interest by 14 March  👉 https://lnkd.in/ej-PgPs4 #GlobalHealth #Epidemics #Pandemics