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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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26 records · Page 2

Optical Biosensor Platforms Display Varying Sensitivity for the Direct Detection of Influenza RNA

Detection methods that do not require nucleic acid amplification are advantageous for viral diagnostics due to their rapid results. These platforms could provide information for both accurate diagnoses and pandemic surveillance. Influenza virus is prone to pandemic-inducing genetic mutations, so there is a need to apply these detection platforms to influenza diagnostics. Here, we analyzed the Fast Evaluation of Viral Emerging Risks (FEVER) pipeline on ultrasensitive detection platforms, including a waveguide-based optical biosensor and a flow cytometry bead-based assay. The pipeline was also evaluated in silico for sequence coverage in comparison to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) influenza A and B diagnostic assays. The influenza FEVER probe design had a higher tolerance for mismatched bases than the CDC’s probes, and the FEVER probes altogether had a higher detection rate for influenza isolate sequences from GenBank. When formatted for use as molecular beacons, the FEVER probes detected influenza RNA as low as 50 nM on the waveguide-based optical biosensor and 1 nM on the flow cytometer. In addition to molecular beacons, which have an inherently high background signal we also developed an exonuclease selection method that could detect 500 pM of RNA. The combination of high-coverage probes developed using the FEVER pipeline coupled with ultrasensitive optical biosensors is a promising approach for future influenza diagnostic and biosurveillance applications.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Recombinant And Mix-Infection Finder for SARS-CoV-2 sample

The scientific and public health communities responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with sample acquisition and genome sequencing on a scale that eclipsed all prior sequencing efforts. While this can only be characterized as a resounding success story that has cemented the use of genomics for epidemiological investigations for any future infectious disease outbreak, several retrospective studies are cataloging an array of lessons learned and issues that have yet to be addressed in order to realize the full potential of genomics as a routine biosurveillance tool. We have been both developing methods to accurately assess SARS-CoV-2 genomes from complex samples, and analyzing the large volumes of international data, both at the consensus level and the raw sequencing data. During the course of our investigations and similar to other groups, we have examined COVID-19 samples with signatures from multiple lineages of SARS-CoV-2 and will describe some of our findings during the development of a novel workflow that incorporates detection and reporting of potential co-infection within samples and also highlights any evidence of within-host recombination.

Lo, Chien-Chi↗

Linking Asthma Exacerbation and Air Pollution Data: A Step Toward Public Health and Environmental Data Integration

Studies have shown that reducing exposure to triggers such as air pollutants can reduce symptoms and the need for medication in asthma patients. However, systems that track asthma are generally not integrated with those that track environmental hazards related to asthma. Tlvs lack of integration hinders public health awareness and responsiveness to these environmental triggers. The current study is a collaboration between health and environmental professionals to utilize NASA-derived environmental data to develop a decision support system (DSS) for asthma prediction, surveillance, and intervention. The investigators link asthma morbidity data from the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) and Mississippi Department of Health (MDH) with air quality data from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and remote sensing data from NASA. Daily ambient environmental hazard data for PM2.5 and ozone are obtained from the MDEQ air quality monitoring locations and are combined with remotely sensed data from NASA to develop a state-wide spatial and time series profile of environmental air quality. These data are then used to study the correlation of these measures of air quality variation with the asthma exacerbation incidence throughout the state over time. The goal is to utilize these readily available measures to allow real-time risk assessment for asthma exacerbations. GeoMedStat, a DSS previously developed for biosurveillance, will integrate these measures to monitor, analyze and report the real-time risk assessment for asthma exacerbation throughout the state.

Faruque, Fazlay↗

Topological Machine Learning Methods for Power System Responses to Contingencies: Preprint

While deep learning tools, coupled with the emerging machinery of topological data analysis, are proven to deliver various performance gains in a broad range of applications, from image classification to biosurveillance to blockchain fraud detection, their utility in areas of high societal importance such as power system modeling and, particularly, resilience quantification in the energy sector yet remain untapped. To provide fast acting synthetic regulation and contingency reserve services to the grid while having minimal disruptions on customer quality of service, we propose a new topologybased system that depends on neural network architecture for impact metrics classification and prediction in power systems. This novel topology-based system allows one to evaluate the impact of three power system contingency types, namely, in conjunction with transmission lines, transformers, and transmission lines combined with transformers. We show that the proposed new neural network architecture equipped with local topological measures facilitates both more accurate classification of unserved load as well as the amount of unserved load. In addition, we are able to learn complex relationships between electrical properties and local topological measurements on the simulated response to contingencies for NREL-SIIP power system.

graph theory↗

Topological Machine Learning Methods for Power System Responses to Contingencies

While deep learning tools, coupled with the emerging machinery of topological data analysis, are proven to deliver various performance gains in a broad range of applications, from image classification to biosurveillance to blockchain fraud detection, their utility in areas of high societal importance such as power system modeling and, particularly, resilience quantification in the energy sector yet remains untapped. To provide fast acting synthetic regulation and contingency reserve services to the grid while having minimal disruptions on customer quality of service, we propose a new topology-based system that depends on a neural network architecture for impact metric classification and prediction in power systems. This novel topology-based system allows one to evaluate the impact of three power system contingency types, in conjunction with transmission lines, transformers, and transmission lines combined with transformers. We show that the proposed new neural network architecture equipped with local topological measures facilitates more accurate classification of unserved load as well as the amount of unserved load. In addition, we are able to learn more about the complex relationships between electrical properties and local topological measurements on their simulated response to contingencies for the NREL-SIIP power system.

contingency analysis↗

Outcomes of PAX sapiens-Supported Global Wildlife Data Sharing Conferences for Enhanced One Health Security (GWDSC)

Across two consecutive Global Wildlife Data Sharing Conferences supported by PAX sapiens—Year 1 (May 2024) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Year 2 (2025) in Ciudad Real, Spain—the initiative converted wildlife data sharing from aspiration into operational reality, producing measurable impacts in platform development, data mobilization, standards harmonization, and international partnership formation. The conferences addressed a critical gap in global health security: while 75% of emerging infectious diseases affect both humans and animals and over 60% originate in wildlife, wildlife health surveillance has historically lagged behind human and agricultural sectors due to fragmented databases, inconsistent terminology, uneven capacity, and limited cross-border coordination. By convening practitioners, government agencies, international organizations, academic institutions, and NGOs, the GWDSC catalyzed trust-based relationships and practical workflows that enable earlier detection, better risk assessment, and more effective prevention of threats at the wildlife–domestic animal–human–environment interface.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Beyond the List: Bioagent-Agnostic Signatures Could Enable a More Flexible and Resilient Biodefense Posture Than an Approach Based on Priority Agent Lists Alone

As of 2021, the biothreat policy and research communities organize their efforts around lists of priority agents, which elides consideration of novel pathogens and biotoxins. For example, the Select Agents and Toxins list is composed of agents that historic biological warfare programs had weaponized or that have previously caused great harm during natural outbreaks. Similarly, lists of priority agents promulgated by the World Health Organization and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases are composed of previously known pathogens and biotoxins. To fill this gap, we argue that the research/scientific and biodefense/biosecurity communities should categorize agents based on how they impact their hosts to augment current list-based paradigms. Specifically, we propose integrating the results of multi-omics studies to identify bioagent-agnostic signatures (BASs) of disease—namely, patterns of biomarkers that accurately and reproducibly predict the impacts of infection or intoxication without prior knowledge of the causative agent. Here, we highlight three pathways that investigators might exploit as sources of signals to construct BASs and their applicability to this framework. The research community will need to forge robust interdisciplinary teams to surmount substantial experimental, technical, and data analytic challenges that stand in the way of our long-term vision. However, if successful, our functionality-based BAS model could present a means to more effectively surveil for and treat known and novel agents alike.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗