Objective
Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) from resistant and hypervirulent bacteria—such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium, Carbapenemase-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Carbapenemase-producing Acinetobacter baumannii, and Clostridioides difficile—pose a growing threat to patient safety worldwide. Outbreaks often go undetected until severe harm occurs. While whole genome sequencing (WGS) is the gold standard for outbreak tracing, it is costly, slow and not globally accessible. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, in contrast, is rapid and widely used, but its outbreak detection potential remains unexploited.
The OUTBReak AI-driven Detection (OUTBRAID) project will transform hospital outbreak surveillance by leveraging an unprecedented international dataset—over 1.2 million MALDI-TOF spectra already collected at the IMM Zurich, plus new contributions from 9 countries across Europe, Asia, and Australia, including Low and Median Income Countries (LMICs), each providing at least 100 samples per pathogen for rigorous, external validation.
OUTBRAID will develop two breakthrough approaches: (1) diffusion models to generate synthetic MALDI-TOF spectra, ensuring robust, cross-center performance; and (2) multimodal machine learning that combines MALDI-TOF, epidemiological metadata, and WGS to enable automated, high-resolution cluster detection. These models will be benchmarked not only at species level but also at sequence type (ST), cgMLST, and single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) resolution—pushing MALDI-TOF as close as possible to the granularity of WGS.
All data, models, and code will be open access. OUTBRAID’s participation in workshops and training will reach and train 150+ scientists and clinicians (e.g. ESCMID), ensuring broad impact. By braiding together international data streams and AI, OUTBRAID aims to deliver scalable tools for early outbreak detection, supporting hospitals and public health globally.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
8006 Zurich
Switzerland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.