About DiSenDa
Our Disease Outbreak Surveillance System is low-cost, low-maintenance, and can be deployed in remote areas with limited access to health services. It continuously collects environmental data to predict the likelihood of outbreaks, and provides real-time data analytics with mobile-based data archiving and visualization for public reporting. These extensive environmental datasets can be used as a surrogate for or as complementary to human disease data, significantly reducing the costs needed to acquire health surveillance data from populations. Data from the surveillance system can be used by community authorities in health decision-making, and inform advisories for public health and safety. The sensor network is flexible and can be adapted for targeted surveillance of specific diseases in populations.
Our Team
We have the necessary complementary expertise to carry out project tasks. Dr. Sheree Pagsuyoin has expertise in environmental chemistry and wastewater engineering. She is currently doing wastewater-based surveillance for COVID-19 and drug use in Massachusetts, is in charge of wastewater-based surveillance for COVID-19 at the UMass Lowell campus. Dr. Hongwei Sun has expertise in developing innovative coupled acoustic wave resonant sensors for biological and chemical sensing. He has previously developed a biosensor for protein interactions such as hIgG and anti-hIgG. Dr. Yan Luo has extensive expertise in embedded and networked systems, machine learning, and Field Programmable Gate Array based data processing. Dr. Nian Sun has expertise in e-Nose sensors for pathogens and sensor systems. He has successfully demonstrated new e-Nose sensors for instant detection of trace amounts of SARS-CoV-2 pathogens in the air. These e-Nose sensors are going through clinical trials at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Frederic Chain has expertise in genomics and bioinformatics that is critical in designing bioprobes. Mr. Jack Lepine has extensive industry experience in next generation sequencing and currently manages the Genomics Core Facility at UMass Lowell. Dr. Analiza Rollon (Philippines) has expertise in wastewater engineering and will lead the Philippine team.