EIT Pathogena at the Festival of Genomics and Biodata 2025

Events

From pioneering discussions to breakthrough innovations, this year’s Festival of Genomics & Biodata reinforced the transformative power of genomics in tackling infectious diseasesFebruary 2, 2025 — Editorial Team

We hope you enjoyed the Festival of Genomics and Biodata as much as we did! We have truly enjoyed being part of such an innovative space and deeply appreciated the Bacteria, Bugs, and Big Data stage, which highlights the growing importance of pathogen genomics within the broader genomics ecosystem.

From pioneering discussions to breakthrough innovations, this year’s Festival reinforced the transformative power of genomics in tackling infectious diseases—redefining how we detect, track, and respond to global health threats.

A Milestone Moment: Launching Our SARS-CoV-2 Product

The EIT Pathogena team loved engaging with so many people at our stand and sharing our vision of a future where no antibiotic is prescribed without first identifying the exact pathogen we are targeting.

One of the standout moments of the Festival was the official launch of our SARS-CoV-2 product—a testament to our commitment to making pathogen genomics more accessible and impactful

Building on the launch of our Mycobacteria pipeline in September, this new solution is a code-free, automated, cloud-based platform designed for comprehensive variant tracking to support outbreak response. The platform is easily accessible here.

This marks a significant step forward in our mission to make pathogen genomics more accessible, actionable, and impactful.

Defining Moments at the Pathogen Genomics Stage

The dedicated stage for pathogen genomics was a highlight of the Festival, shining a spotlight on the critical role of sequencing in public health. One of the standout talks came from Dr Rahul Batra, Deputy Director, Clinical Infection and Diagnostics Research, Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital who highlighted the game-changing impact of metagenomics on rapid diagnostics and patient care.

He shared how traditional culture-based methods take 48-72 hours to return results, while metagenomics can achieve this within a single day. This acceleration has profound implications for early intervention, real-time surveillance, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) monitoring.

Our CEO, Dr Emma Stanton took the stage on the second day, alongside leaders in the field, including Professor David Aanensen Director of the Centre for Genomic Pathogen Surveillance, University of Oxford and Professor Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Advisor, UKHSA

Prof David Aanensen emphasised the importance of structuring pathogen surveillance data across four key dimensions—geography, time, risk variants, and lineage. He introduced AMR-Watch, a tool designed to provide structured, actionable insights into WHO-priority pathogens.
Prof Susan Hopkins introduced UKHSA’s mSCAPE initiative, a world-first metagenomics surveillance programme designed to strengthen global health security through real-time pathogen detection. This pioneering effort marks a major step forward in public health genomics, equipping the UK with enhanced capabilities to detect and respond to emerging infectious disease threats.

It was an incredible opportunity to share the vision of EIT Oxford and EIT Pathogena. Our ambition is unprecedented in scale, and we are committed to revolutionising how the world monitors, detects, and prevents infectious diseases. EIT Pathogena, we are developing a global “Always On” pathogen monitoring ecosystem through three core pillars:

1) The world’s largest pathogen reference database: We are assembling an unparalleled collection of whole genome sequences from diverse pathogens across the globe. This resource will serve as the foundation for next-generation research and public health interventions, ensuring global representation and accessibility.

2) Deploying next-generation sequencing platforms: Pathogen monitoring must be rapid, scalable, and accessible. We are deploying cutting-edge sequencing platforms that are mobile, fast, and user-friendly—designed to bring real-time genomic insights to both advanced laboratories and field settings.

3) A global data-sharing network: Infectious diseases do not respect borders—neither should our response. We are building a global network of partners committed to secure, anonymised pathogen data sharing, driving collaborative solutions for outbreak prediction and prevention.

Looking Ahead: The Future of EIT Pathogena

As we reflect on the Festival of Genomics and Biodata, we are more inspired than ever:

We must look at the big picture and push the boundaries of pathogen genomics to build scalable, data-driven solutions in infectious disease genomics.

This year’s festival showcased the transformative potential of genomics in public health, and we are proud to be at the forefront of this revolution.

Next stop: ESCMID Global in April. I look forward to continuing these conversations—see you there!