Earlier, better-informed detection
Investigate whether combined diagnostic and contextual evidence can support earlier, better-informed disease assessment.
Health and bioscience
HERALD / Johne’s disease research
This programme investigates how software, data analysis and machine learning can support research into immune signatures and biomarkers associated with the earlier detection of Johne’s disease in cattle.
Current position
At a glance
- Area
- Research
- Category
- Health and bioscience
- Current status
- Active collaborative R&D
- Stage
- Research
The research question
What this is—and why we are working on it.
HERALD—Health Enhancement through Rapid Assessment of Livestock Diseases—is active collaborative R&D with Diagnostig investigating data associated with a novel diagnostic approach to Johne’s disease in cattle.
Johne’s disease is a chronic bacterial illness that can affect animal health, milk production and herd productivity. Its long progression makes better-informed detection and surveillance an important livestock-health problem.
42able is interested in how careful data analysis and machine learning can add useful evidence to this kind of real scientific question while keeping source values, comparator methods and uncertainty visible.
What we’re investigating
The work behind the question.
42able is developing source-faithful analysis and machine-learning workflows that evaluate data from the diagnostic approach alongside established comparator methods.
- Structured analysis of assay, comparator and relevant contextual data
- Data handling that preserves reported values and provenance
- Machine-learning experiments designed to test the repeatability of candidate patterns
- Evaluation outputs that make data limitations and uncertainty visible to the wider research team
Possible applications
Where this work could matter.
The immediate work supports the research team; its longer-term value is in helping veterinary and livestock specialists make better-informed assessments.
Livestock health monitoring
Help researchers examine how relevant signals behave across animals, sampling conditions and time.
Decision support
Give veterinary and livestock specialists a clearer evidence trail for interpreting results and deciding what should be investigated next.
Healthier herds and surveillance
Contribute research towards reducing disease spread, improving herd health and productivity, and strengthening future livestock-disease surveillance.
Current status
Where the work stands.
HERALD is active collaborative R&D supported through Innovate UK funding. 42able is analysing the available data and refining the evaluation workflow; findings and diagnostic performance remain under evaluation.
Open questions
What we’re exploring next.
- Are candidate signals stable across animals, sampling conditions and stages of infection?
- Is the available data sufficiently complete and representative for the question being asked?
- Which apparent patterns reflect biology, and which may reflect collection, measurement or missing-data effects?
- What independent validation would be required before any result could inform practice?
Questions and collaboration
Explore the next question with 42able.
We collaborate where a research problem benefits from shared domain knowledge, relevant data and rigorous technical work.