Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

June 14, 2021

14/06/2021

Scripps Research collaborates with The Rockefeller Foundation on digital COVID-19 surveillance, pandemic preparedness A grant from the New York-based foundation will fuel expansion of DETECT, Scripps Research's sensor-based study for real-time digital detection of viral illness.

June 14, 2021

LA JOLLA, CA Scientists at the Scripps Research Digital Trials Center are collaborating with The Rockefeller Foundation to expand efforts to create a sensor-based early warning system for COVID-19 and other viral outbreaks. Efforts will center on expanding and refining Scripps Research's ongoing DETECT study, which has already enrolled more than 38,000 participants across the United States.

Bolstered by a new grant from The Rockefeller Foundation, the DETECT team will expand outreach efforts to further increase participation, with a primary focus on underrepresented and high-risk communities across San Diego County.

The scientists also received support in the form of computing credits from the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Diagnostic Development Initiative.

The app-based DETECT study, launched in March 2020, uses sensor data from smartwatches and activity trackers of consenting participants to gain new insights into physiological and behavioral changes associated with viral illness and more recently, physiological response to vaccines. The team's goal is to detect COVID-19 or other illnesses before symptoms appear.

A larger and more diverse pool of participants will allow us to refine and validate our predictive model for identifying viral illness activity, including COVID-19 and seasonal flu, based on changes in heart rate, sleep and activity, says Jennifer Radin, PhD, the Scripps Research Translational Institute (SRTI) epidemiologist leading the study. By targeting our efforts in San Diego, where we've already enrolled over 3,000 local participants, we hope to scale to a level where we can track population-level viral illness in real-time in a geographically defined area.

An early analysis of DETECT data, published last fall in Nature Medicine, showed that the information captured by wearable devices can significantly improve scientists' ability to identify infections, compared with relying on reported symptoms alone.

The Scripps Research team hopes the approach can eventually supplement traditional disease-surveillance methods which often rely on data from healthcare institutions and testing facilities to identify outbreaks faster and with greater geographic accuracy. This would enable public health officials to contain deadly viruses more quickly.

An innovative collaboration

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists at Scripps Research have collaborated with their peers at The Rockefeller Foundation in New York to respond to the many challenges that have emerged.

Eric Topol, MD, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, contributed to The Rockefeller Foundation's National COVID-19 Testing Action Plan, as well as an updated version of the report. Topol and Kristian Andersen, PhD, director of Infectious Disease Genomics at SRTI, also provided their expertise for the Foundation's national disease surveillance plan, which calls for using genomic technologies and other sophisticated tools to detect and track viral threats.

When it comes to preparing for and responding to disease outbreaks, the need for innovation has been clear even before the COVID-19 pandemic, says Rick Bright, PhD, senior vice president of Pandemic Prevention and Response at The Rockefeller Foundation. We envision a federated global early warning system that considers a variety of data streams from genomic sequencing and wastewater surveillance to cell phone mobility and wearable sensors and can produce insights that can be used to stop disease outbreaks in their first 100 days.

Keeping an eye on viral threats

In addition to helping public health officials in the United States improve their response to outbreaks, the team envisions a use for the approach in other parts of the world.

While the development of highly effective vaccines in record time has provided many countries a powerful tool for reining in COVID-19, the global situation remains dire. In many areas, vaccines are not accessible, and the virus continues to spread uncontrolled, raising the risk that dangerous new variants will emerge.

Wearable sensor-based technologies can help, allowing public health officials to identify outbreaks of COVID-19, the seasonal flu or the next novel virus of pandemic potential. They also can help track physiological response to vaccines and treatments.

After validating the sensor-based virus surveillance model in San Diego, the team plans to roll it out more broadly, with an emphasis on regions with limited capacity for traditional disease surveillance methods.

We are delighted to continue our collaboration with The Rockefeller Foundation and grateful for the support from AWS, Topol says. We look forward to taking DETECT and digital disease surveillance to the next level.

The Scripps Research Digital Trials Center leads groundbreaking studies that address the world's most pressing health concerns. As pioneers of the site-less clinical trial, the center leverage rapidly evolving digital health technologies to re-engineer the clinical trial experience around the participant, rather than the research site.

Enrollment in DETECT is open to anyone over the age of 18 in the United States. To learn more, visit detectstudy.org.

COVID-19 Translational Institute Radin, Jennifer
LINK: https://www.scripps.edu/news-and-events/press-room/2021/20210614_radin...
See more stories from scripps

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

30/04/2026

PWHL Reports Record Growth in Third Regular Season as Playoffs Begin April 30

The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) concluded its third regular season on Saturday, reporting growth across attendance, viewership, digital engage...

30/04/2026

NBC Sports Launches National Sunday MLB Coverage Beginning May 3

NBC Sports will air national MLB coverage on Sundays beginning May 3, with MLB Sunday Leadoff on Peacock and NBCSN at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by the debut of th...

30/04/2026

Clear-Com Appoints Brian Grahn and Ben Turnwell to New Roles

Clear-Com has appointed Brian Grahn as Market Outreach Manager of the Americas and Ben Turnwell as Business Development Manager for EMEA live. Grahn joined Cle...

30/04/2026

ARRI Introduces cforce MAX Lens Motor for Hi-5 Lens Control System

ARRI has introduced the cforce MAX, a new lens motor for the Hi-5 lens control system. The cforce MAX is twice as fast as the cforce plus motor it replaces whil...

30/04/2026

Knuerr, Voxtronic, and IHSE to Present Integrated Control Room Solution at Airspace World

Knuerr, Voxtronic, and IHSE will jointly present an integrated control room solu...

30/04/2026

The CW Network and ESPN to Stream CW Sports Live Events on ESPN App

The CW Network and ESPN have announced an agreement to make the ESPN App the exclusive streaming home for all CW Sports live events. CW Sports will continue to ...

30/04/2026

Sennheiser Spectera Deployed on Ed Sheerans The Loop Global Stadium Tour

Ed Sheeran's The Loop' tour launched in Auckland in January 2026 before moving on to Australia, with South America and the United States to follow late...

30/04/2026

Audinate Launches Dante Preset Creator for Offline Network Configuration

Audinate has announced Dante Preset Creator, a free online tool for configuring Dante network settings before hardware is available on site. Presets created in ...

30/04/2026

Yahoo Sports Appoints Jarrod Schwarz as General Manager

Yahoo Sports has announced the appointment of Jarrod Schwarz as General Manager of Yahoo Sports. Schwarz will oversee product, design, and technology; revenue a...

30/04/2026

Nielsen: U.S. Viewers Spent 79.8 Billion Minutes Watching Soccer in 2025

Nielsen has released a new report, Get Ready with Media Intelligence: 2026 FIFA World Cup Edition, examining U.S. soccer viewership trends, fan engagement, and ...

30/04/2026

USA Lacrosse Names SportsEngine Preferred Youth Sports Management Platform Partner

USA Lacrosse and SportsEngine have announced an expanded partnership, naming Spo...

30/04/2026

Telos Alliance To Appear at MPTS 2026 Across Multiple Partner Booths

Telos Alliance will participate in the 2026 Media Production and Technology Show (MPTS), taking place May 13-14 at Olympia London. Rather than exhibiting from a...

30/04/2026

DAZN Bolsters U.S. Ambitions With ViewLift Acquisition, Targets Evolving Regional Sports Landscape

The global streamer buys the U.S. DTC platform solutions provider for a reported...

30/04/2026

Tigo Sports Upgrades Video Infrastructure with Ateme Technology

Tigo Sports, Paraguay's leading sports broadcaster, has upgraded its video infrastructure with Ateme solutions for live encoding, multiplexing, and signal c...

30/04/2026

World Rugby and IMG Announce Long-Term Media Rights Partnership

World Rugby and IMG have announced a long-term media rights partnership focused on growing rugby in the United States ahead of the Men's and Women's Rug...

30/04/2026

NWSL & Overtime Re-Up Gen-Z Focused Content Partnership

For the second year in a row, Overtime and the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) are teaming up through a renewed content partnership to bring fans even...

30/04/2026

ESPN Executive Vice President David Roberts Set To Retire

The 22-year ESPN vet's responsibilities will reportedly be taken over by SVP Mike Foss...

30/04/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 13: Anaheim Ducks' Scott Fausneaucht - Skating with the Ducks of Orange County

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

30/04/2026

Prime Video Announces Multiyear Agreement with Duke Mens Basketball

Amazon and Duke University have announced a multiyear agreement for Prime Video to present exclusive coverage of three Duke Blue Devils men's basketball neu...

30/04/2026

Ratings Roundup: NBA Playoffs Return to NBC Sports up 38%; UFL Viewership up Midway Through Regular Season

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...

30/04/2026

Introducing Verified by Spotify, a Signal of Authenticity and Trust for the Artists Behind the Music

Music is evolving, and so are the ways you discover and connect with artists. In...

30/04/2026

First-Ever Stockholm Music Week Celebrates the Industry's Present and Future

Between April 22-29, the first inaugural Stockholm Music Week brought together thought leaders and partners across industries including music, tech, government,...

30/04/2026

API launch the Vision+ console

Iconic large-format console upgraded API's iconic Vision console has just been treated to an overhaul that aims to meet the demands of today's profe...

30/04/2026

Lewitt introduce the LCT 440 Pure stereo pair

Comes complete with miking accessories The LCT 440 Pure has proven to be a popular member of Lewitt's mic line-up, offering impressive technical perform...

30/04/2026

SynthFest UK 2026 Announced

24 October 2026 at The Octagon, Sheffield Now in its eighth year, SynthFest UK is the largest event of its kind in the UK, bringing together the top keyboar...

30/04/2026

SBS & NITV LEAD NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK 2026 WITH LANDMARK GULPILIL DOCUMENTARY

SBS & NITV LEAD NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK 2026 WITH LANDMARK GULPILIL DOCUMEN...

30/04/2026

Rohde & Schwarz equips new Terminal 3 at Frankfurt Airport with security scanners

Rohde & Schwarz equips new Terminal 3 at Frankfurt Airport with security scanner...

30/04/2026

Jennifer Ehle and Alex Hassell join the cast of ITV's propulsive lunar thriller First Woman

Jennifer Ehle (Contagion, Zero Dark Thirty) and Alex Hassell (Rivals, Wasteman, ...

30/04/2026

L3Harris Technologies Reports Strong First Quarter 2026 Results

MELBOURNE, Fla., April 30, 2026 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) reports first quarter 2026 results. Highlights Orders of $7.8 billion; book-to-bill of 1....

30/04/2026

Golf Craft Interview: A1s Florian Brown and James Deason

Behind the Broadcast: The Sound of Elite Golf Golf is gaining popularity; the 2025 Ryder Cup achieved record-breaking viewing figures in the UK specifically, wi...

30/04/2026

CPI Media Leverages QuickLink StudioCall for Integrating...

STA VENERA, MALTA, APRIL 29, 2026 CPI Media, a voluntary organization within the Missionary Society of St Paul (MSSP) and a leading media house dedicated to p...

30/04/2026

Hitomi Broadcast Presents UK Debut of MatchBox Panorama a...

New software platform delivers comprehensive timing measurement across production workflows...

30/04/2026

Cutting edge British innovation leads at BroadcastAsia 20...

Once again, the UK Pavilion in Hall 5 of BroadcastAsia 2026 will feature the latest and best in technology specifically developed and tailored for modern media ...

30/04/2026

Avid powers faster workflows and next-generation immersive audio with latest Pro Tools release

Avid powers faster workflows and next-generation immersive audio with latest Pro...

30/04/2026

Ocean Blue Software Launches ATSC 3.0 Inspector for Smart TVs

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/04/2026

Digital Azul positions Lisbon as a remote production hub...

Scalable broadcast-grade production over public internet, replacing traditional OB workflows...

30/04/2026

V Nova Brings DTV Deployment LCEVC Ecosystem Progress and...

Live demonstrations highlight LCEVC ecosystem momentum, AI-powered video pipelines, and expansion across broadcast, streaming, and social media. DTV (TV 3.0) ...

30/04/2026

Student Spotlight: Matthew Leon

Student Spotlight: Matthew Leon The dual major shares his path from community college to Berklee, and how his heritage influences his work. April 29, 2026 B...

30/04/2026

Berklee Artists to Perform at Major Global Music Festivals

Berklee Artists to Perform at Major Global Music Festivals As part of the Berklee Popular Music Institute, students will perform at Lollapalooza, Governors Ba...

30/04/2026

Study: Rokus Low-Cost, Ad-Free Howdy Streamer Hits 1 Million Subs

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/04/2026

MLS Innovation Lab Selects AI Partners

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/04/2026

NRB Files FCC Complaint Over Jimmy Kimmel Live!' Monologue

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...