Googling emerging infectious diseases with Roche
Roche and Google Start Initiative for Early Discovery of New Diseases
Roche and Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google.com, recently started a joint project to demonstrate the feasibility of developing a multidisciplinary surveillance, research and response system. This system will enhance the ability to predict and prevent emerging infectious diseases in East Africa. Roche has donated a Genome Sequencer FLX system as backbone of this project.“
The project will focus primarily on arboviruses (arthropod-borne viruses), a large group of viruses which frequently cause emergent disease and are transmitted by blood-sucking insects and their arthropod cousins, such as ticks. The first disease the project will tackle is Rift Valley Fever (RVF), a lethal disease of livestock and people caused by an arbovirus spread by mosquito vectors.
The initiative will:
- Survey human, livestock, wildlife and vector populations to monitor the circulation transmission and maintenance of arboviruses within them, with a focus on RVF virus
- Employ state of the art genomics and knowledge management systems to advance understanding of the dynamics and diversity of disease-causing agents, their vectors and hosts
- Link this wealth of new information to existing risk information and decision support tools to provide early warning of disease outbreaks and enable rapid responses to control them.
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