Integrated Network for the Surveillance of Pathogens

INSPIRE integrates the areas of pathogen surveillance, biomanufacturing and health sector supply chains, and cross-border trade and mobility, to provide proactive strategies and develop novel technologies that will build resilience and capacity in the biomanufacturing sector and improve Canada’s ability to deliver healthcare.

With a focus on community-level wastewater, INSPIRE creates an innovative cross-border pathogen surveillance network, spanning areas in northern Ontario, large urban centres, agricultural regions, and neighbouring U.S. states, where many supply chains supporting Canadian industry originate. The program will rapidly transmit emergent disease signals into demand signals that will inform biomanufacturing and healthcare supply chains so that adjustments can be made to avoid disruption. In addition, pathogen surveillance data will also be shared with research and industry partners to alert them to pathogens circulating within the surveillance corridor, making the process of identifying and targeting pathogens for diagnostic tests, vaccines, and therapeutics more efficient.