Drs Winston Timp (Biomedical Engineering, WSE) and Stuart Ray (Infectious Diseases, SOM) Understanding the genetic variability of virus genomes has many public health and basic research priorities. With the immediate impact of social distancing and insight into vaccine development. Genetic characterization of viral pathogens requires specialty expertise from many disciplines, including molecular biology, virology, computational biology, and epidemiology.  

By combining efforts across JHU, we are establishing a pipeline to sequence virus research using the ARTIC method for broad genetic characterization of SARS-COV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19. Specifically, we are:  

1. Working to identify the genetic diversity of the virus in the Baltimore/DC area. 
   The initial introduction of the virus, and how it changes over time and with the implementation of social distancing measures. 
2. Measuring strains in individuals and how it correlates to the diseases’ 
   state/virulence, an individual’s immune response, and pharmacological resistance. 
3. How strains move among the population - i.e. what is the flow from broad to fine scale: (nation, state, city, neighborhood) using sequence evolution to identify and track and predict a community’s transmission. 

IDIES is helping to house databases and data volumes, organize and analyze this data, making it accessible on the back end to computational analysis and on the front-end through web servers to our group and other researchers throughout the Johns Hopkins family. 

IDIES is actively seeking to assist any and all project groups that may require data-based research tools and techniques that can contribute to the study and eradication of COVID-19. Please reach out to us today if we can help with your project. 

In 2019, IDIES asked its staff and some of their IDIES faculty members to participate in strategic planning sessions as we looked forward to the next phase of IDIES. Outcomes of this work included a new mission and vision statement, and four strategic focus areas. 

Mission Statement 

• Research and Education in adaptive disruptive technologies 
• Technical and domain expert guidance via collaboration and consultation 
• Open and sustainable long-term access to high-value datasets Vision Statement 

IDIES will lead the translation of data science & technology to real world problems across the University. 

Strategic Focus Area #1: Internal Operations 

To streamline communications and project management, the IDIES management team has been reviewing our internal organization structure, workflow processes, and project and resource tracking tools. Over the past year, we’ve implemented a new communication and order processing workflow, and began expanding our use of Zenhub project management tools to all IDIES projects, including the implementation of putting memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in place for all new customer projects. 

Strategic Focus Area #2: Marketing and Communications 

In February, IDIES hired a new communications specialist who will work with our management team and educational outreach to create a unified marketing and communications strategy. This will include updating our website, enabling analytics, and improving current and creating new communications to encourage and increase engagement from our members. 

Strategic Focus Area #3: Financial Stability 

The IDIES management team is looking into diversifying its sources of funding to ensure stable support for IDIES staff and ensure continued expert support for our users. This will be a primary focus for 2020. 

Strategic Focus Area #4: The Future of Data Science 

A focus for 2020 will be expanding the involvement of industry partners and working with other data science community members to explore the future of data science and how IDIES can identify and develop innovative technologies and tools.