Center for Research in Emerging Infectious Disease-Epidemiology, Surveillance, Pathogenesis (CREID-ESP)

Lead Organization: Washington University in St. Louis
Pathogen Focus: MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)

The Center for Research in Emerging Infectious Disease-Epidemiology, Surveillance, Pathogenesis (CREID-ESP) at Washington University in St. Louis will focus on surveillance of key disease symptoms such as respiratory disease, inflammation of the brain, and fever of unknown origin, that have frequently been observed in association with emerging viruses in the past few decades. Surveillance of animal and insect vectors will also be performed to identify origin points and define transmission patterns associated with novel emerging viruses. The Center includes four international surveillance sites located in China, Hong Kong, Nepal, and Ethiopia. These sites have an established history of studying viral emergence or possess the high capability to monitor potential future events. The Center will initially prioritize research efforts on Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and SARS-CoV-2 research. In addition to conducting virus surveillance, the Center will develop new substances to carry out lab and diagnostic tests to characterize virus epidemiology and pathogenic potential. These efforts will establish and validate the critical infrastructure necessary to respond to new emerging infectious diseases. In the event of a new outbreak, efforts will be reprioritized, in consultation with NIAID, to focus on response to the new emerging threat. To achieve these goals, the Center has assembled a unique, international team with complementary expertise in public health, disease surveillance, virus discovery, genomics, bioinformatics, virology, molecular biology, immunology, diagnostic development, and animal model development.

This Research Center is supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U01AI151810

David Wang Principal Investigator Washington University in St. Louis Read Bio
Jacco Boon Co-Investigator Washington University in St. Louis Read Bio
Michael Diamond Co-Investigator Washington University in St. Louis Read Bio
Scott Handley Data Management Lead Washington University in St. Louis Read Bio
Malik Peiris Co-Investigator Hong Kong University Read Bio
Leo Poon Co-Investigator Hong Kong University Read Bio
Sujan Shresta Nepal Site Coordinator La Jolla Institute Immunology Read Bio
Krishna Manandhar Co-Investigator Tribhuvan University
Feyesa Regassa Co-Investigator Ethiopia Public Health Institute
Huanyu Wang Co-Investigator China CDC Read Bio
Guodong Liang Co-Investigator China CDC Read Bio