Innovative technologies for advancement of WHO risk group 4 pathogens research

Abstract

Risk Group 4 pathogens are a group of often lethal human viruses for which there are no widely available vaccines or therapeutics. These viruses are endemic to specific geographic locations and typically cause relatively infrequent, self-limiting, but often devastating human disease outbreaks (e.g. Ebola virus, Kyasanur Forest disease virus, Lassa virus). The overall rarity of disease outbreaks with the associated lack of clinical data and the requirement for research on Risk Group 4 pathogens to be performed in maximum (biosafety level 4) containment necessarily impede progress in medical countermeasure development. Next-generation technologies may aid to bridge the current gaps of knowledge by increasing the amount of useful data that can be gleaned from individual diagnostic samples, possibly even at point-of-care; enable personalized medicine approaches through genomic virus characterization in the clinic; refine our comprehension of pathogenesis by using ex vivo technologies such as organs-on-chips or organoids; identify novel correlates of protection or disease survival that could inform novel medical countermeasure development; or support patient and treatment response monitoring through non-invasive techniques such as medical imaging. This chapter provides an overview of a subset of such technologies and how they may positively impact the field of Risk Group 4 pathogen research in the near future.