Journal ArticleSemi‐quantitative group testing for efficient and accurate qPCR screening of pathogens with a wide range of loadsNambiar, Ananthan; Pan, Chao; Rana, Vishal; Cheraghchi, Mahdi; Ribeiro, Joao; Maslov, Sergei; Milenkovic, OlgicaAbstract Background: Results: To address these issues, we introduce a novel adaptive semi-quantitative group testing (SQGT) scheme to e ciently screen populations via two-stage qPCR testing. The SQGT method quantizes cycle threshold (Ct) values into multiple bins, leveraging the information from the rst stage of screening to improve the detection sensitivity. Dynamic Ct threshold adjustments mitigate dilution e ects and enhance test accuracy. Comparisons with traditional binary outcome GT methods show that SQGT reduces the number of tests by 24% on the only complete real-world qPCR group testing dataset from Israel, while maintaining a negligible false negative rate. Conclusion: In conclusion, our adaptive SQGT approach, utilizing qPCR data and dynamic threshold adjustments, o ers a promising solution for e cient population screening. With a reduction in the number of tests and minimal false negatives, SQGT holds potential to enhance disease control and testing strategies on a global scale. Keywords: Group testing, Pooled testing, Semiquantitative group testing, qPCR, Ct values, Viral load, COVID-19Biomed Central2024-05-1710549923BMC bioinformatics1471-2105https://doi.org/2107344National Science Foundation