Method Development and Analytics

Who we are

We are a research department within the Division of Infectious Disease Control with broad methodological competence. We are 39 researchers, bioengineers, and project managers, working across three sections:

Immunology:

We conduct laboratory-based studies to understand how the immune system responds to vaccines and infections so we can give advice about the best strategies to reduce the burden of infectious disease. We also serve as NIPH’s core facility for high-dimensional single cell analysis.

Vaccine epidemiology and population studies:

We conduct short and long-term follow-up studies of the Norwegian immunisation programmes, including vaccine effectiveness, safety and uptake, using population-based cohort and registry data.

Mathematical modelling and computational biology:

We develop mathematical and statistical models to extract information from surveillance and genomic data, and to predict how public health interventions will affect the transmission of infectious diseases.

What we do

We conduct research in immunology, epidemiology and modelling to understand the transmission and impact of infectious diseases and the effect of vaccines. Our work informs health policy and health preparedness in Norway.

Our main contributions to NIPH’s mission

1. We optimise current and future vaccination strategies across the NIPH’s entire value chain by:

• predicting the expected effect of public health interventions, including vaccination
• modelling scenarios to give policymakers different response alternatives
• providing immunological expertise and data for vaccination strategies and identification of risk groups
• evaluating the effectiveness and safety of vaccines over time and across risk groups 

2. We conduct research for future health preparedness by:

• developing high-resolution health monitoring solutions for the future
• modelling the development of antimicrobial resistance
• maintaining a research infrastructure for ad hoc use in health crises

Section for immunology

Head of section: Unni C. Nygaard, PhD

• We work to understand how the immune system responds to infection and vaccines, in order to inform public health advice and vaccine recommendations.
• We identify groups at risk of low immune response to vaccines, and environmental risk factors that can further reduce vaccine effectiveness.
• We are a scientific and methodological resource for NIPH and manage the institute’s core facility for high-dimensional single cell analysis.
• We conduct research for preparedness: by keeping up to date with technological and scientific developments, we can give advice about predicted effects of new infectious threats and new vaccine technologies

Links to our ongoing research projects: 

• Population based studies on SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination in Norway
• EXPOSIM (exposim.eu)
• miniNOR
• NUSS
• Koronahus
• PsychGen centre
• CyTOF platform​
• EXIMIOUS
• POLYRISK

Section for vaccine epidemiology and population studies

Head of section: Lill-Iren Schou Trogstad, MD PhD 

• We follow up Norway’s immunisation programmes through epidemiological studies and by conducting research on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. 
• We analyse and evaluate the consequences and impact of infections and immunisation programmes, including vaccine effectiveness, safety and vaccine uptake, and generate scientific advice to inform NIPH’s recommendations.
• We conduct long-term population-based cohort-studies and collect data otherwise unavailable from registries and surveillance systems.
• Our ready-to-use cohort infrastructure is a preparedness tool that can be employed in national health crises to quickly generate reliable, high-quality data to answer ad-hoc questions, and to follow up NIPH’s response. 

Links to our ongoing research projects: 

• HPV follow-up
• NorFlu
• SeroSelectTB
• PERCH Partnership to contrast HPV
• NONSEnse Nordic network On Non-Specific Effects of vaccines

Section for Mathematical Modelling and Computational Biology

Head of section: Marissa Leblanc, PhD

• We develop mathematical and statistical models to extract information from surveillance data and predict how public health interventions will affect the transmission of infectious diseases. Our methods include big data analytics and artificial intelligence.
• We describe and classify infectious disease agents, and how their characteristics impact the expected disease burden.
• Our models build on epidemiological surveillance and health care data, and we enrich them with non-traditional data sources, including mobility, traffic patterns, weather and payments.
• We forecast the expected effect of different responses to infectious disease outbreaks and/or vaccine strategies. This gives decision makers the possibility to make informed choices between available strategy options.

Links to our ongoing research projects: 

• Covid Modelling
• Vital-Imi – Vaccines and Infectious disease in the Ageing Populations