Projects

Clients of Eduard Grebe Consulting with active projects include Vitalant Research Institute (the research arm of Vitalant), Roche Molecular Systems, Inc., part of Roche Diagnostics, the South African National Blood Service, and the Western Cape Blood Service.

Selected projects illustrating the range of scientific, analytic, and software development work undertaken by Eduard Grebe Consulting, including work predating the establishment of the consultancy, are listed below.

Blood safety, transfusion-transmissible infections & blood donor epidemiology #

HIV, HBV & HCV residual transfusion-transmission risk estimation in the Latin America region #

In collaboration with Roche Molecular Systems, development of methods for estimating transfusion-transmission risk based on results from nucleic acid testing of blood donors.

HIV incidence & residual risk monitoring in US blood donors #

With Vitalant Research Institute, analyses for the US FDA’s Transfusion Transmissible Infections Monitoring System (TTIMS), particularly in the areas of HIV incidence estimation in first-time blood donors using biomarkers of recent infection, and estimation of residual transfusion-transmission risk. Major TTIMS publications led by Eduard include Grebe et al. (2020) and Grebe et al. (2025).

HIV & arbovirus surveillance in Brazilian blood donors #

With Vitalant Research Institute, epidemiological studies within the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute-funded Recipient Epidemiology and Donor Evaluation Study-IV-Pediatric (REDS-IV-P) programme, focused on surveillance of transfusion-transmissible infections in Brazilian blood donors. Work has encompassed HIV, dengue, chikungunya, and Zika virus surveillance across multiple blood collectors participating in the programme. Publications with significant contributions from Eduard include De Oliveira Garcia Mateos et al. (2021), Custer et al. (2023), Buccheri et al. (2025), and Grebe et al. (2025).

SARS-CoV-2 & respiratory virus surveillance in US and South African blood donors #

With Vitalant Research Institute, major analytic and operational contributions to the US CDC’s national blood donor serosurveillance programmes for SARS-CoV-2. Work included development of methods for identifying SARS-CoV-2 reinfections using antibody boosting (Grebe et al. (2025)) and vaccine effectiveness studies. Numerous publications in journals such as JAMA, Emerging Infectious Diseases, and Clinical Infectious Diseases, including Jones et al. (2022).

In collaboration with the South African National Blood Service and Western Cape Blood Service, cross-sectional serosurveillance for SARS-CoV-2 infections in South African blood donors, and with the South African National Blood Service, development and application of methods to identify reinfections in a cohort of regular blood donors. Significant role in the US CDC’s blood donor respiratory virus surveillance programme.

Modelling supply & demand of COVID-19 convalescent plasma #

Development of an agent-based simulation model for forecasting supply and demand of COVID-19 convalescent plasma during the pandemic. The model supported operational planning and policy decisions around convalescent plasma collection and distribution. Reported in Russell et al. (2021). Related work included evaluation of high-throughput serological assays for identifying high-titre convalescent plasma donors.

Public health consultancy #

Hepatitis C burden estimation #

Research consultancy for the San Francisco Department of Public Health on baseline estimation of the burden of hepatitis C virus infection in San Francisco, supporting the city’s End Hep C SF elimination initiative.

WHO. UNAIDS & other advisory roles #

Participation in expert advisory bodies including the WHO Working Group on HIV Incidence Measurement and Data Use, the Forum for Collaborative Research’s Recency Assays Working Group, and the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Collaborative Cross-Sectional Incidence Database Project. Technical consultancy on HIV incidence recency testing guidance documents and development of web-based tools for UNAIDS and WHO.

Scientific software #

inctools: HIV incidence estimation tools #

Maintainer and lead developer of the inctools R package and its newer Julia implementation, which implement standard methods for estimating HIV incidence from cross-sectional surveys and for analysing calibration data used to characterise tests for recent infection.

Context-specific recency test property estimation tool #

Development and maintenance of a web-based estimation tool (R/Shiny) for UNAIDS and WHO, enabling context-specific calibration of recency test properties for use in HIV incidence estimation. The tool supports national and sub-national surveillance programmes globally.

Infection dating tool #

Development of a web-based tool for interpreting HIV diagnostic testing histories into infection date estimates, integrating curated data on diagnostic assay performance. Originally developed in collaboration with Alex Welte and with programming support from Implicit Design. Reported in Grebe et al. (2019).

Additional tools #

Further scientific software contributions include a web-based prevalence and incidence calculator (R/Shiny), a sample size estimation tool for cross-sectional surveys and cohort studies, and a residual transfusion transmission risk estimation tool.