DISCOVERY PARTNERS INSTITUTE
ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH
DISCOVERY PARTNERS INSTITUTE
ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Funded initially by the Walder Foundation, and later by the Illinois and Chicago Departments of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the DPI team gathers sewage samples from treatment plants as well as directly from sewers in Chicago neighborhoods, and key facilities such as O’Hare International Airport. The contents are screened for the virus at a high-throughput lab built by UIC; Argonne then sequences the genetic material to provide data on virus variants. Northwestern heads efforts to enhance and customize data analytics for Illinois public health needs while DPI leads program design, management and logistics.
Real-time findings are shared with both the Illinois and Chicago Departments of Public Health to help both agencies track COVID-19's spread and guide public health policies.
DPI and its partners are collecting samples from over 85 locations, covering the output of more than 8 million Illinoisans. To date, thousands of samples have been analyzed and sequenced. Total funding, largely from the city and state public health departments, comes to more than $17 million.