CHAPEL HILL, NC — (November 24, 2025) A multi-disciplinary team of researchers led by Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, at UNC Chapel Hill’s Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, with partners at North Carolina State University, Emory University, Accelint’s SoarTech, and a network of international collaborators has received $2.2 million of a planned $4 million contract from the Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC) -Naval Advanced Medical Development (NAMD) for development of advanced human pathogen detection systems using mosquitoes and other insects. The new program is called Linked Intelligence and Xenosurveillance for Detection of Infectious Disease Threats (LINX). LINX deploys next-generation sequencing and artificial intelligence approaches to provide rapid and actionable data on infectious disease threats, helping military and public health leaders prevent outbreaks and safeguard deployed forces.
Hunting Pathogens within Mosquitoes
Mosquito-borne diseases are among the most persistent and deadly threats to global health—especially in tropical regions where military personnel are frequently deployed, and these diseases can cause explosive outbreaks and life-threatening illness, including meningoencephalitis, myelitis, and hemorrhagic shock. Traditional surveillance methods often rely on human sampling, which can be slow, invasive, and logistically challenging.
Dr. Parr and his team within the UNC Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Ecology Lab (IDEEL) apply cutting-edge sequencing methods to guide infectious disease policy decisions. With partners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), they’ve demonstrated how metagenomic and targeted sequencing can be used to rapidly assess the threat of arthropod-borne pathogens.
“We successfully developed and piloted mosquito sequencing methods to investigate arboviral transmission along the DRC’s border with Angola,” said Parr, associate professor of infectious diseases.
“This work has shown us the potential of these approaches to detect and address emerging and re-emerging human pathogens, including in remote settings. This work isn’t just about science—it is a public health service. Understanding the local epidemiology of infectious disease threats is important both for military personnel and local communities.”
Revolutionizing Disease Surveillance
Methods deployed by LINX represent a paradigm shift in infectious disease surveillance, offering advantages over traditional approaches to deliver early warnings and actionable intelligence about infectious disease threats, integrating field mosquito collection, genomic sequencing, bioinformatics, and AI-powered risk assessment. Sequencing activities will be supported by UNC’s High-Throughput Sequencing Facility, as well as Emory University’s Integrated Genomics Core.
Michael Reiskind, PhD, a professor in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University, will lead mosquito trapping efforts across diverse environments—starting in North Carolina and extending to remote regions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
“We will leverage our many years of experience conducting mosquito surveillance across North Carolina to capture mosquitoes responsible for La Crosse encephalitis, West Nile, and eastern equine encephalitis viruses,” said Reiskind. “This will act as a testbed for applying these methods across the globe for a diversity of pathogenic threats, protecting our military and the public.”
Mosquito sampling in rural and urban areas in Africa, Asia and Latin America is possible through long-standing partnerships that allow the team to capture vector species known to carry dengue, Zika, malaria, and other pathogens. Mosquito sequencing and analysis will be used to detect both known and novel viruses. New analysis tools will be used to process sequencing data.
Anne Piantadosi, MD, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Emory University says the laboratory and computational tools used will be both broad and sensitive, allowing the team to cast a wide net.
“We will not only be able to monitor multiple known pathogens at the same time using a streamlined approach; we will be able to identify unexpected and new infectious threats,” said Piantadosi. “These broad, so-called ‘unbiased’ or ‘agnostic’ sequencing tools are starting to be used in clinical settings to diagnose infections when traditional methods are unsuccessful, and they are extremely powerful when applied to vector surveillance.”
Moving from Data to Decisions
LINX will integrate genomic, environmental, and operational data using advanced AI and machine learning. The system will generate real-time risk assessments, forecasts outbreak trajectories, and recommend countermeasures such as targeted vaccination or mosquito control. A user-friendly dashboard will allow military planners to visualize disease hotspots and query data using natural language to identify emerging threats that could lead to larger outbreaks, increased illness, and compromise military readiness.
Accelint’s SoarTech, with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Laboratory rooted in cognitive science and innovative multi-disciplinary research, will lead the integration of AI, machine learning, and decision-support capabilities within the LINX system, ensuring outputs are explainable, auditable, and operationally relevant to mission planners.
“By integrating explainable AI into a framework that fuses genomic, environmental, and operational data, LINX provides an enhanced toolkit for military medical planners,” said SoarTech Senior Scientist Jon Sussman-Fort, PhD. “This capability supports early detection, rapid response, and ultimately – mission readiness.”
UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases
Established in 2007, the UNC Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases at the UNC School of Medicine started over 30 years ago with infectious disease physician researchers studying HIV in China and Malawi. Through the years, our work has expanded to include emerging pathogens, cancer, women’s health and vector-borne disease like malaria–shaping policy through evidence-based research around the world. At UNC-Chapel Hill, the Institute facilitates research excellence while nurturing emerging scientists to advance patient care and practice, addressing the most important global health issues of our time–through research, training and service.
About Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC)
Funding Statement: This work is supported by the Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC)-Naval Advanced Medical Development (NAMD) Program through MTEC OTA under award # W81XWH-15-9-0001. MTEC is a nonprofit DoD-focused funding consortium dedicated to accelerating the development and deployment of innovative biomedical technologies that benefit both military personnel and civilians. With a membership base of over 700 organizations spanning small and large businesses, academic institutions, and non-profit collaborators, MTEC fosters collaboration, provides access to non-dilutive funding, and supports commercialization pathways for emerging medical technologies.