NLM DIR Seminar Schedule

Abstract:

Where will the next pandemic virus come from? Rapid global changes in agriculture, climate, and mobility of humans and animals are driving the emergence and re-emergence of zoonotic infectious diseases with pandemic potential, for example H5N1 ‘bird flu.' In this talk, I will describe how advanced Bayesian phylodynamic approaches use genomic sequence data to understand virus evolution, spillover, and spatial spread and offer a new global strategy for combating emerging infectious diseases. I will also describe NIH-led efforts to integrate genomics into a global pandemic risk assessment pipeline to rapidly identify new variants of influenza — and potentially other rapidly evolving zoonotic RNA viruses — that pose a high risk to humans.