Always-On: EIT Pathogena and Oxford Nanopore Technologies revolutionising global disease detection | LC 25

Biography

Dr Emma Stanton is CEO for Pathogena at EIT. From 2020–2024, she was Senior Vice President Clinical at Oxford Nanopore Technologies and Head of Oxford Nanopore Diagnostics. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Emma was Director for Supplies, Labs and Innovation as part of the British government’s NHS Test and Trace response. Originally a practising NHS clinician, Emma holds an executive MBA from Imperial College, London, a MRCPsych from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and a BM from the University of Southampton.

Abstract

Antimicrobial microbial resistance (AMR) will cause 39 million deaths between now and 2050.¹ In 2021 there were 15 million deaths annually from infectious diseases.² Yet the world still has no universal, affordable point-of-care test to accurately identify the infection and enable clinicians to tailor treatments to individual patients.

EIT Pathogena, part of the Ellison Institute of Technology in Oxford, will revolutionise infectious disease prevention and treatment by supporting point-of-care diagnostics to improve outcomes and save lives. To do this we will work with partners across the globe to build the world’s largest pathogen reference dataset, which will not only drive the transition to genome-enabled precision medicine but will also support AI-enabled prediction of disease outbreaks.

The exciting, bold vision that EIT and Oxford Nanopore Technologies are working towards will deliver an ‘Always On’ global solution to infectious disease. Here we would like to share the first steps of our implementation pilot, supporting the set-up and onboarding of Oxford Nanopore-powered pathogen identification sequencing and EIT-driven data management workflows in partner labs around the world. Together we will enhance the identification and understanding of pathogen species, transmission dynamics, and outbreak detection, providing crucial insights for pandemic preparedness.

In addition, we will share the power of the EIT Pathogena bioinformatics tools, currently used across six continents, utilising Oxford Nanopore Technologies platforms for the assembly, variant calling, and analysis of pathogens, for mycobacteria and SARS-CoV-2. Built on Oracle cloud, and capable of processing up to 100 samples per hour, the tools deliver rapid, accurate insights. All together revolutionising global disease detection.