diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6c10459..d24b3de 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@
     "@opentelemetry/sdk-metrics": "^1.18.1",
     "@opentelemetry/sdk-node": "^0.50.0",
     "@opentelemetry/sdk-trace-node": "^1.18.1",
+    "@opentelemetry/semantic-conventions": "^1.27.0",
     "@sentry/node": "^7.74.1",
     "@sentry/profiling-node": "^1.2.1",
     "axios": "^0.27.2",
diff --git a/src/controllers/async/asyncquery.ts b/src/controllers/async/asyncquery.ts
index f8703cd..4bfdc26 100644
--- a/src/controllers/async/asyncquery.ts
+++ b/src/controllers/async/asyncquery.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import axios, { AxiosError, AxiosResponse } from "axios";
+import { context, propagation } from "@opentelemetry/api";
 import { customAlphabet } from "nanoid";
 import * as utils from "../../utils/common";
 import { redisClient } from "@biothings-explorer/utils";
@@ -42,8 +43,14 @@ export async function asyncquery(
     }
     const url = `${req.protocol}://${req.header("host")}/v1/asyncquery_status/${jobId}`;
 
+    // add OTel trace context
+    const otelData: Partial<{ traceparent: string; tracestate: string }> = {};
+    propagation.inject(context.active(), otelData);
+    const { traceparent, tracestate } = otelData;
+    queueData = { ...queueData, traceparent, tracestate };
+
     const job = await queryQueue.add(
-      { ...queueData, url: url.replace("status", "response") },
+      { ...queueData, traceparent: traceparent, tracestate: tracestate, url: url.replace("status", "response") },
       {
         jobId: jobId,
         timeout: parseInt(process.env.JOB_TIMEOUT ?? (1000 * 60 * 5).toString()),
diff --git a/src/controllers/opentelemetry.ts b/src/controllers/opentelemetry.ts
index 2acf1e9..2563881 100644
--- a/src/controllers/opentelemetry.ts
+++ b/src/controllers/opentelemetry.ts
@@ -2,18 +2,20 @@ import { NodeSDK } from "@opentelemetry/sdk-node";
 import { getNodeAutoInstrumentations } from "@opentelemetry/auto-instrumentations-node";
 import { Resource } from "@opentelemetry/resources";
 import Debug from "debug";
+import { OTLPTraceExporter } from '@opentelemetry/exporter-trace-otlp-proto';
 const debug = Debug("bte:biothings-explorer:otel-init");
-import { JaegerExporter } from "@opentelemetry/exporter-jaeger";
+import { ATTR_SERVICE_NAME } from '@opentelemetry/semantic-conventions';
+
 
 debug("Initializing Opentelemetry instrumentation...");
 const sdk = new NodeSDK({
-  traceExporter: new JaegerExporter({
-    host: process.env.JAEGER_HOST ?? "jaeger-otel-agent.sri",
-    port: parseInt(process.env.JAEGER_PORT ?? "6832"),
+  // metrics, if needed, shall be exported on a different endpoint
+  traceExporter: new OTLPTraceExporter({
+    url: `${process.env.JAEGER_HOST ?? 'jaeger-otel-collector'}:${process.env.JAEGER_PORT ?? 4318}/v1/traces`
   }),
   instrumentations: [getNodeAutoInstrumentations()],
   resource: new Resource({
-    "service.name": "biothings-explorer",
+    [ATTR_SERVICE_NAME]: "biothings-explorer",
   }),
 });
 sdk.start();
diff --git a/src/controllers/threading/taskHandler.ts b/src/controllers/threading/taskHandler.ts
index 9fcc41b..e082243 100644
--- a/src/controllers/threading/taskHandler.ts
+++ b/src/controllers/threading/taskHandler.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import { tasks } from "../../routes/index";
 import { getQueryQueue } from "../async/asyncquery_queue";
 import * as Sentry from "@sentry/node";
 import { ProfilingIntegration } from "@sentry/profiling-node";
-import OpenTelemetry, { Span } from "@opentelemetry/api";
+import { Span, trace, context, propagation, Context } from "@opentelemetry/api";
 import { Telemetry } from "@biothings-explorer/utils";
 import { InnerTaskData } from "@biothings-explorer/types";
 
@@ -90,13 +90,14 @@ async function runTask({
       scope.setSpan(transaction);
     });
 
-    span = OpenTelemetry.trace
-      .getTracer("biothings-explorer-thread")
-      .startSpan(
-        routeNames[route],
-        undefined,
-        OpenTelemetry.propagation.extract(OpenTelemetry.context.active(), { traceparent, tracestate }),
-      );
+    let activeContext: Context = propagation.extract(context.active(), { traceparent, tracestate });
+    let tracer = trace.getTracer("biothings-explorer-thread")
+    span = tracer.startSpan(
+      routeNames[route],
+      {kind: 1},  // specifies internal span
+      activeContext,
+    );
+  
     span.setAttribute("bte.requestData", JSON.stringify(req.data.queryGraph));
     Telemetry.setOtelSpan(span);
   } catch (error) {
diff --git a/src/controllers/threading/threadHandler.ts b/src/controllers/threading/threadHandler.ts
index 8bf711e..eb52333 100644
--- a/src/controllers/threading/threadHandler.ts
+++ b/src/controllers/threading/threadHandler.ts
@@ -104,11 +104,8 @@ async function queueTaskToWorkers(pool: Piscina, taskInfo: TaskInfo, route: stri
     const abortController = new AbortController();
     const { port1: toWorker, port2: fromWorker } = new MessageChannel();
 
-    // get otel context
-
-    const otelData: Partial<{ traceparent: string; tracestate: string }> = {};
-    propagation.inject(context.active(), otelData);
-    const { traceparent, tracestate } = otelData;
+    const traceparent: string = taskInfo.data.traceparent;
+    const tracestate: string = taskInfo.data.tracestate;
 
     const taskData: InnerTaskData = { req: taskInfo, route, traceparent, tracestate, port: toWorker };
     taskData.req.data.options = {...taskData.req.data.options, metakg: global.metakg?.ops, smartapi: global.smartapi} as QueryHandlerOptions;
@@ -219,6 +216,11 @@ async function queueTaskToWorkers(pool: Piscina, taskInfo: TaskInfo, route: stri
 
 export async function runTask(req: Request, res: Response, route: string, useBullSync = true): Promise<TrapiResponse> {
   const queryQueue: Queue = global.queryQueue.bte_sync_query_queue;
+
+  const otelData: Partial<{ traceparent: string; tracestate: string }> = {};
+  propagation.inject(context.active(), otelData);
+  const { traceparent, tracestate } = otelData;
+
   const taskInfo: TaskInfo = {
     data: {
       route,
@@ -233,6 +235,8 @@ export async function runTask(req: Request, res: Response, route: string, useBul
       },
       params: req.params,
       endpoint: req.originalUrl,
+      traceparent: traceparent,
+      tracestate: tracestate,
     },
   };