Phase III
In Phase III, the REDI-NET program generated evidence through three levels of laboratories to evaluate three hypotheses using descriptive analyses to inform improvement in forecasting potential risk of exposure for local communities. Gold labs included the University of Notre Dame, the Naval Medical Research Command, the Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit, and the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture (UADA). Silver labs consisted of the Belize Vector and Ecology Center (Belize), the Navy Entomology Center of Excellence (USA), and the Mpala Research Centre (Kenya). Bronze labs include the US Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa (USAMRD-Africa), the US Naval Hospitals in Guam and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Training Sites in San Diego, CA, and Parris Island, SC.
The hypotheses evaluated during phase III included:
- The correlation amongst field metadata and NGS outputs through active REDI-NET vDNA sampling to strengthen risk estimation of zoonotic spillover events.
- The use of established REDI-NET SOPs by Bronze-tier laboratories for data capture, sample processing, testing, and analysis to expand REDI-NET active surveillance and improve risk projections.
- The knowledge transfer of cutting-edge forward-facing technologies and proven REDI-NET processes as a valuable tool to Senior Commands and DoD Preventative Medicine Units.
Central to the REDI-NET Phase III goals was the expansion of the e-MERGE System developed in Phase I and II, which is fully flexible, scalable, and expandable, allowing the seamless integration of Phase III generated data and included data from other sample types. Reach-back CONUS Gold labs has remote access to support the cross-seasonal environmental pathogen monitoring of the forward-facing OCONUS Silver labs and the new Bronze labs in real-time. This core functionality, facilitated by stringent, robust SOPs, has ensured a unified data collection, processing, and sharing strategy from remote global theaters that facilitated rapid, automated downstream analyses of field-generated NGS data and instantaneous upload of accurate, verified results to the REDI-NET project alert dashboard. Data are in formats for ready submission to genomic data repositories to facilitate data sharing with interested parties through an Application Programming Interface (API) following DoD cybersecurity regulations.
Phase III Study Design
