TY - JOUR
T1 - Leveraging natural history biorepositories as a global, decentralized, pathogen surveillance network
AU - Colella, Jocelyn P.
AU - Bates, John
AU - Burneo, Santiago F.
AU - Camacho, M. Alejandra
AU - Bonilla, Carlos Carrion
AU - Constable, Isabel
AU - D'Elia, Guillermo
AU - Dunnum, Jonathan L.
AU - Greiman, Stephen
AU - Hoberg, Eric P.
AU - Lessa, Enrique
AU - Liphardt, Schuyler W.
AU - Londono-Gaviria, Manuela
AU - Losos, Elizabeth
AU - Lutz, Holly L.
AU - Garza, Nicte Ordonez
AU - Peterson, A. Townsend
AU - Martin, Maria Laura
AU - Ribas, Camila C.
AU - Struminger, Bruce
AU - Torres-Perez, Fernando
AU - Thompson, Cody W.
AU - Weksler, Marcelo
AU - Cook, Joseph A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Colella et al.
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic reveals a major gap in global biosecurity infrastructure: A lack of publicly available biological samples representative across space, time, and taxonomic diversity. The shortfall, in this case for vertebrates, prevents accurate and rapid identification and monitoring of emerging pathogens and their reservoir host(s) and precludes extended investigation of ecological, evolutionary, and environmental associations that lead to human infection or spillover. Natural history museum biorepositories form the backbone of a critically needed, decentralized, global network for zoonotic pathogen surveillance, yet this infrastructure remains marginally developed, underutilized, underfunded, and disconnected from public health initiatives. Proactive detection and mitigation for emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) requires expanded biodiversity infrastructure and training (particularly in biodiverse and lower income countries) and new communication pipelines that connect biorepositories and biomedical communities. To this end, we highlight a novel adaptation of Project ECHO's virtual community of practice model: Museums and Emerging Pathogens in the Americas (MEPA). MEPA is a virtual network aimed at fostering communication, coordination, and collaborative problem-solving among pathogen researchers, public health officials, and biorepositories in the Americas. MEPA now acts as a model of effective international, interdisciplinary collaboration that can and should be replicated in other biodiversity hotspots. We encourage deposition of wildlife specimens and associated data with public biorepositories, regardless of original collection purpose, and urge biorepositories to embrace new specimen sources, types, and uses to maximize strategic growth and utility for EID research. Taxonomically, geographically, and temporally deep biorepository archives serve as the foundation of a proactive and increasingly predictive approach to zoonotic spillover, risk assessment, and threat mitigation.
AB - The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic reveals a major gap in global biosecurity infrastructure: A lack of publicly available biological samples representative across space, time, and taxonomic diversity. The shortfall, in this case for vertebrates, prevents accurate and rapid identification and monitoring of emerging pathogens and their reservoir host(s) and precludes extended investigation of ecological, evolutionary, and environmental associations that lead to human infection or spillover. Natural history museum biorepositories form the backbone of a critically needed, decentralized, global network for zoonotic pathogen surveillance, yet this infrastructure remains marginally developed, underutilized, underfunded, and disconnected from public health initiatives. Proactive detection and mitigation for emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) requires expanded biodiversity infrastructure and training (particularly in biodiverse and lower income countries) and new communication pipelines that connect biorepositories and biomedical communities. To this end, we highlight a novel adaptation of Project ECHO's virtual community of practice model: Museums and Emerging Pathogens in the Americas (MEPA). MEPA is a virtual network aimed at fostering communication, coordination, and collaborative problem-solving among pathogen researchers, public health officials, and biorepositories in the Americas. MEPA now acts as a model of effective international, interdisciplinary collaboration that can and should be replicated in other biodiversity hotspots. We encourage deposition of wildlife specimens and associated data with public biorepositories, regardless of original collection purpose, and urge biorepositories to embrace new specimen sources, types, and uses to maximize strategic growth and utility for EID research. Taxonomically, geographically, and temporally deep biorepository archives serve as the foundation of a proactive and increasingly predictive approach to zoonotic spillover, risk assessment, and threat mitigation.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107553909&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009583
DO - 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009583
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34081744
AN - SCOPUS:85107553909
SN - 1553-7366
VL - 17
JO - PLoS Pathogens
JF - PLoS Pathogens
IS - 6
M1 - e1009583
ER -