A prototype online tracking tool designed to provide real-time data on the global spread of epidemic pathogens like Zika and Ebola won the Open Science Prize.
The online viral tracking platform — nextstrain.org — took first out among 96 multinational teams. The tool provides real-time visualization and interactive data on the spread of global viruses using genomic data on viral pathogens.
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"Nextstrain.org aims to synthesize publicly available pathogen genomic data to arrive at an understanding of epidemic spread not available through traditional surveillance systems," said Trevor Bedford, PhD, researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and one of the leaders behind the online platform.
The Open Science Prize is a collaboration between the Wellcome Trust, the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. These organizations provide the winning team with $230,000 to fully develop their prototype.
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