ECDC Virtual Academy (EVA)

This is a five-day training on respiratory viruses surveillance laboratory methods and reporting with a focus on Influenza. This course aims to provide an introductory training on microbiological surveillance laboratory methods and reporting of respiratory viruses. The training will begin on a Wednesday and end on a Tuesday, thereby including a weekend with no training activities but time to network and explore nearby areas of Greece. 

Dates and duration: 26 June – 2 July 2024.

Location: Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece.

Audience: The course is designed for staff who will be actively involved in the microbiological surveillance of influenza and other respiratory viruses. The training is for participants who should have sufficient expertise in relevant laboratory methods and be able to cascade the training at their institute. The training is considered beginner-level. Participants should be involved in the microbiological surveillance of Influenza and be able to actively apply skills acquired as part of the training. Participants should be part of the European Reference Laboratory Network for Human Influenza (ERLI-Net) and/or European COVID-19 reference laboratory network (ECOVID-LabNet) or a national public health institute or associated institute in countries of the EU/EEA, the Western Balkan (Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) or Türkiye.

Objectives: After completing this training, the participants should be able to:  

• Describe and apply laboratory methods used in the microbiological surveillance of respiratory viruses.  
• The course will cover basic knowledge on the below areas: 
• multiplex respiratory real-time PCR implementation
• detection and typing
• subtype/lineage determination for seasonal influenza strains from human specimens
• sequencing
• basic bioinformatic analysis of influenza virus/ use of bioinformatics tools 
• clade assignment for seasonal influenza and zoonotic (avian/swine) strains
• genetic antiviral resistance determination
• phylogenetic analyses
• antigenic characterisation
• biosafety and quality assurance
• validation of molecular assays 
• Operate the reporting of results to ECDC TESSy databases and to public databases such as GISAID. 

Participation: This training is not open for self-enrolment. Participation is through invitation only.

This is a five-day dry-lab course giving a general practical introduction to NGS data analysis with examples of SARS-CoV-2.

Dates and duration: 13-17 May 2024.

Location: Robert-Koch-Institut, Berlin, Germany.

Audience:

This course is designed for participants with no or little experience in analysing NGS data. Previous knowledge of Linux and bioinformatics is not required. Participants should have fundamental understanding of molecular biology and basic knowledge in NGS theory and background. The training is considered beginner level.

Workstations (laptops) will be provided during the training. The participants should be or will be involved in the microbiological surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 and be able to actively apply skills acquired as part of the training. Participants should be part of the European Reference Laboratory Network for Human Influenza (ERLI-Net) and/or European COVID-19 reference laboratory network (ECOVID-LabNet) or a national public health institute or associated institute in countries of the EU/EEA, the Western Balkan (Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) or Türkiye.

Objectives: After completing this training, the participants should be able to: 

• Explain the theoretical background behind SARS-CoV-2 next-generation sequencing (NGS). 
• Execute bioinformatic analyses including: 

• Operate the reporting of results to ECDC TESSy databases and submitting data to public databases such as GISAID (Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data) or the COVID-19 data portal.

Participation: This training is not open for self-enrolment. Participation is through invitation only.

This is a four-day wet-lab course aimed at laboratory staff with prior knowledge and experience of standard laboratory techniques.

Dates and duration: 09-13 December 2024.

Audience: This course is designed for laboratory staff with prior knowledge and experience of standard laboratory techniques such as PCR. The training is considered intermediate to expert level. Applicants should be involved in the microbiological surveillance of influenza and be able to actively apply skills acquired as part of the training. Applicants should be part of the ECDC ERLI-Net and/or ECOVID-LabNet or a national public health institute or associated institute in countries of the EU/EEA, the Western Balkan (Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) or Türkiye.

Objectives: After completing this training, the participants should be able to: 

• Describe laboratory methods used in the microbiological surveillance of influenza virus for the detection and typing (subtype/lineage determination) of seasonal and zoonotic influenza from human specimens. 
• Apply laboratory methods used in the microbiological surveillance of influenza virus for the detection and typing (subtype/lineage determination) of seasonal and zoonotic influenza from human specimens. 
• Explain the concept of respiratory virus multiplex assays to detect at least Influenza, SARS-CoV-2 and RSV. 
• Operate the reporting of results to TESSy.

Participation: This training is not open for self-enrolment. Participation is through invitation only.

Instructional video on the concept and conducting of Influenza virus culturing on embryonated eggs/cell culture. The video includes the overall principle and assay design instructions as well as tips, trick for successful method application and troubleshooting advice and refer the learner to additional sources.

Duration: available from Q2 2024

Audience: The learner should be or will be involved in the microbiological surveillance of influenza.

Objective: By the end of this course, the learner will be able to: Describe the concept and reason for culturing influenza viruses as part of microbiological surveillance of influenza including advantages and disadvantages of different methods (cell culture/ egg culturing). Explain the reason and steps of sharing isolates and original samples with a WHO Collaborating Centre for Influenza.

Participation: Self-enrolment on EVA.