NUM-SAR

The aim of NUM-SAR is to provide information and an infrastructure for university medicine that enables further research into aspects of pandemic management.

NUM-SAR complements the laboratories of the ÖGD with an efficient network of expert laboratories for various pathogens and the ability to quickly set up test systems. In addition to laboratory capacities, however, additional structures are required, the lack of which also reduced the effectiveness of pandemic containment in Germany in later phases of the pandemic. These include capacities for knowledge creation and evidence synthesis, systems for collecting incidence data (pathogen surveillance, health data) and a uniform data infrastructure for linking health burden and pandemic dynamics (e.g. pathogen variants, immunisation, hospital infections). In order to establish these structures, the infrastructure provides essential material, data and knowledge as well as the necessary network. This information is made available to the RKI and the public health system.

The early phase of a pandemic is a critical time for rapid and coordinated action. Here, the spread of the pathogen must be contained as far as possible, the danger of the disease assessed and the healthcare system prepared for the challenges ahead. This includes the rapid development of diagnostic tests, informed decisions on management needs, the collection of initial surveillance data from routine clinical care and the monitoring of disease progression and its impact on healthcare capacity.

While the early response essentially concerns the public healthcare system, initial data and critical expertise are primarily available in the cutting-edge medical care sector. Important capacities are often distributed across different locations. Substantial preparation in the non-pandemic phase increases resilience through the preventive rehearsal of procedures and the precautionary provision of diagnostics, surveillance and data structures.

In order to achieve these goals, four modules are being (further) developed in the Reseach Infrastructure: Pakop, ESVE, GenSurv/MuSEand Dashboard:

• The pathogen competence platform (Pakop) combines the collective professional and material capacity of the university virology and microbiology institutes and enables an immediate professional response (anticipation/expertise, test development, research support).
• The evidence synthesis infrastructure (ESVE) supports the transition from expert knowledge to formally validated evidence via a methodological and clinical network over the course of an incipient pandemic and provides a basis for action.
• The monitoring infrastructure (GenSurv/MuSE) records and evaluates care, quality and infection parameters relating to university medicine (including the operation of a data platform for genomic pathogen surveillance) and also makes these available to the RKI as a sentinel.
• As a technical and organisational infrastructure, the dashboard supplies other NUM infrastructures and important external stakeholders such as the RKI with data from routine care throughout university medicine. The data is processed decentrally and almost in real time.

In order to ensure close links with the other NUM infrastructures, members of NUM-SAR are also represented in the Steering Committees of the NUM cross-sectional area Method and Biosample Hub (QS-MB) and the Specialised Network Infections (SNID), among others. They are also involved in other NUM committees and are networked with other external stakeholders.