Speaker
Description
Influenza A viruses (IAVs) frequently breach species barriers, posing a persistent pandemic threat. Mitigating this threat requires systems capable of detecting high-risk strains at the animal–human interface and implementing targeted countermeasures before human spillover occurs. Although international frameworks like TIPRA or IRAT routinely assess IAV risks, data gaps and lengthy consensus-building can hamper national preparedness. Hence, Germany needs its own rapid early warning system for emerging influenza threats.
To fill this gap, we established FLUPREP, a national One Health consortium funded by the BMFTR. Uniting six core partners—RKI, Charité Berlin, FLI, University of Münster, University Medical Center Freiburg, and LGL—FLUPREP seeks to proactively characterize IAVs emerging at the human–animal interface to generate comprehensive risk profiles that drive evidence-based pandemic preparedness. Central to FLUPREP is an integrated experimental pipeline that evaluates pandemic potential by quantifying key risk factors, such as human-type receptor specificity, airborne transmissibility, and resistance to diverse immune barriers. The measured data are then converted into a pandemic risk score calibrated against contemporary and historical IAVs. Graded risk score thresholds will act as actionable triggers, enabling local, state, and federal authorities to scale response measures from routine surveillance to emergency protocols, securing Germany's future pandemic resilience.
Keywords
FLUPREP, Pandemic Preparedness, Influenza A Virus, Pandemic Potential, Lab Testing
| Registration ID | 212 |
|---|---|
| Professional Status of the Speaker | Professor |
| Junior Scientist Status | No, I am not a Junior Scientist. |
