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Group testing for infectious disease detection

Award Number: R01AI121351
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 05/24/2016
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2026

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Group testing for infectious disease detection - Project Summary/Abstract Testing high volumes of clinical specimens for infectious diseases requires the use of efﬁcient testing approaches. One approach used by laboratories is a procedure known as group testing (also known as pooled testing). In its most basic application, portions of specimens from different people are combined together into “groups” so that each corresponding individual is represented within one group. These groups are tested as if they were only single specimens. Members of negative groups are declared negative. Members of positive groups are retested separately in a second stage of testing to determine who is positive and who is negative. When group sizes are chosen in a statistically appropriate manner, the number of people represented by negative groups is much larger than those in positive groups. This leads to signiﬁcant reductions in the overall number of tests required when compared to testing each specimen separately. These reductions subsequently result in signiﬁcant increases for laboratory testing capacity by applying the resources saved to test more specimens. Current applications of group testing include: 1) testing blood donations for viruses, including hepatitis B and West Nile; 2) screening for bacteria that lead to chlamydia and gonorrhea; 3) checking for antiretroviral treatment failure among HIV-positive individuals; and 4) testing for viruses during a pandemic, including SARS-CoV-2. There are different algorithmic approaches to group testing. Members of positive testing groups can be successively split into smaller groups over two or more stages of testing. Alternatively, individual specimens can be allocated to multiple groups during the initial stage of testing in an effort to reduce the number of subsequent stages of testing. The ﬁrst goal of this research to develop new group testing strategies that require few stages. This will enable laboratories to more easily implement group testing and to report test results quicker. The second goal is to develop new statistical learning methods for data arising through group testing. These methods will result in better predictions for the probability of positivity and can be used to develop more efﬁcient approaches to implement group testing. The third goal is to create tools for laboratories so that they can apply this research. These tools will include a web-based application that allows laboratories to choose the most efﬁcient group testing strategy for their particular situation.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $429,353 )
2024	2024	BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA	2200 VINE ST # 830861	LINCOLN	NE	68503	LANCASTER	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	7	6/28/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$429,353
														Subtotal = $429,353

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $429,353 )
2023	2023	BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA	2200 VINE ST BOX 830861	LINCOLN	NE	68503	LANCASTER	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	6	6/22/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$429,353
														Subtotal = $429,353

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $433,066 )
2022	2022	BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA	2200 VINE ST BOX 830861	LINCOLN	NE	68503	LANCASTER	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	5	6/27/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$433,066
2022	2022	BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA	2200 VINE ST BOX 830861	LINCOLN	NE	68503	LANCASTER	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	001	5	7/1/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $433,066

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $443,185 )
2021	2021	BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA	2200 VINE ST BOX 830861	LINCOLN	NE	68503	LANCASTER	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	002	4	7/9/2021	COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2021	2021	BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA	2200 VINE ST BOX 830861	LINCOLN	NE	68503	LANCASTER	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	001	4	7/1/2021	COMPETING CONTINUATION	$443,828
2021	2018	BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA	2200 VINE ST BOX 830861	LINCOLN	NE	68503	LANCASTER	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	3	5/3/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$643
														Subtotal = $443,185

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2020	2018	BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA	2200 VINE ST BOX 830861	LINCOLN	NE	68503	LANCASTER	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	3	2/10/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2018 ( Subtotal = $364,103 )
2018	2018	BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA	2200 VINE ST BOX 830861	LINCOLN	NE	68503	LANCASTER	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	3	4/23/2018	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$364,103
														Subtotal = $364,103

Issue Date FY: 2017 ( Subtotal = $367,663 )
2017	2017	BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA	2200 VINE ST BOX 830861	LINCOLN	NE	68503	LANCASTER	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	2	4/20/2017	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$367,663
														Subtotal = $367,663

Issue Date FY: 2016 ( Subtotal = $406,070 )
2016	2016	UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA LINCOLN	303 ADMINISTRATION BUILDING	LINCOLN	NE	68588	LANCASTER	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	1	5/24/2016	NEW	$406,070
														Subtotal = $406,070

Grand Total All Awards = $2,872,793

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Group testing for infectious disease detection

Award Number: R01AI121351

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 05/24/2016

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2026

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