# Pan-Genomic Approaches for Comprehensive Blood Screening of Novel or Emerging Infectious Agents

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2020 · $744,018

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Pan-Genomic Approaches for Comprehensive Screening of Novel or Emerging Infectious Agents in
Blood
 Emerging infectious agents, the latest of which is Zika virus, continually threaten the safety of the 15
million transfusions performed annually in the United States, yet the lack of diagnostic tools to
comprehensively test for all bloodborne pathogens or to identify infections from novel viruses has greatly
hindered surveillance efforts. In a previous grant, we have pioneered the development of microarray and
metagenomic sequencing-based approaches to comprehensively screen blood for both known and novel
pathogens, and have identified a number of novel viruses circulating in human blood. We have established
long-term collaborations with national and international collaborators who will provide us with clinical and donor
blood samples from individuals infected with chikungunya, dengue, Ebola, Zika, Lassa, and West Nile virus, as
well as non-viral pathogens (e.g. Babesia microti and Plasmodium falciparum), for analysis. This project
proposes (1) to develop an accurate and comprehensive yet practical sequencing-based platform (BloodSeq)
for simultaneous detection and whole-genome characterization of all American Association of Blood Banks
(AABB)-priority pathogens in infected patients and blood donations, (2) to discover and further describe the
epidemiology and potential pathogenicity of novel infectious viruses that pose a potential threat of bloodborne
transmission, and (3) to define complementary host response biosignatures for transfusion-transmissible
pathogens using transcriptome profiling, especially in asymptomatic infected donors. A key deliverable from
this 5-year project will be implementation of the BloodSeq platform by public health agencies such as the
American Red Cross for comprehensive bloodborne pathogen screening of the blood supply.The results from
these studies will advance genomic sequencing technologies as validated screening tools to ensure
transfusion safety, with significant clinical and public health implications.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9840921
- **Project number:** 5R01HL105704-09
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Charles Yen Chiu
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $744,018
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2011-04-01 → 2020-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9840921

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9840921, Pan-Genomic Approaches for Comprehensive Blood Screening of Novel or Emerging Infectious Agents (5R01HL105704-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9840921. Licensed CC0.

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