Concordia researchers create new model for tracking pathogens

The method could help countries better deal with disease outbreaks

NewsKara Brulotte — Published September 30, 2025 2 minutes

The model tracks a contagious person as they move through a space and models how the pathogens disperse. This can function in tandem with air ventilation systems to keep high-traffic areas, such as rooms in a hospital, free of infection. 

“We're trying to emphasize the element of time. With the existence of smart systems around sensors and cameras, we would be able to respond to the dispersion of pathogens in a more timely manner,” said Concordia professor and research co-author Fuzhan Nasiri.

According to research author and PhD student Zeinab Deldoost, the model improves on two major limitations of previous research: long computational time and needing to know the exact path of the person before they walk. 

Deldoost said they accomplish this by reducing the human being tracked to a box that represents them, which simplifies calculations and does not significantly affect accuracy. 

In turn, this short calculation time lets the model integrate with a real-time movement detection algorithm, allowing it to track people and quickly calculate the pathogen spread. This process, Nasiri explained,  used to take hours, while now pathogen spread can be mapped within seconds of it occuring. 

“This makes the model particularly suitable for dynamic real-world applications, such as hospitals and other shared spaces, where paths of the infected person are unpredictable,” Deldoost said. “Rapid decision-making is essential for these places.”

According to the researchers, this method could be deployed in future disease outbreaks to ensure minimal spread of pathogens. They added that with this model, cameras and a smart ventilation system, people could know almost immediately if and when they had come into contact with someone contagious, and avoid it before it happens. 

“In the hospital, there are a lot of sick people coming in and moving out,” said Concordia professor and research co-author Fariborz Haghighat. “And in case one of them is contaminated and goes to different places, we have the ability to simultaneously follow this person and find out with whom he or she's been in contact with.” 

Haghighat added that this research, coming in the wake of the pandemic, could revolutionize the way that countries deal with future disease outbreaks, allowing increasingly complex technology to keep buildings free of disease. He said the faster they can track the pathogens, the better they can control the spread of diseases.

“With the emergence of pandemics such as influenza, SARS, and COVID-19, pathogens have become key factors contributing to the contamination of indoor spaces,” Deldoost said. “Understanding the behaviour of pathogen dispersion in indoor environments is crucial.”

This article originally appeared in Volume 46, Issue 3, published September 30, 2025.