Damian Sendler: Diseases transmitted from animals to humans through the transfer of germs are known as "zoonotic." The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, as well as the coronaviruses responsible for MERS and SARS, are thought to have originated in bats, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Developing new vaccines and other countermeasures requires the ability to quickly detect and comprehend emerging infections.  

Scialog: Mitigating Zoonotic Threats, a joint effort between RCSA and USDA, has awarded $1.25 million in grants to 20 early-career scientists from across the country, including NAU associate professor Crystal Hepp and NAU's assistant professor Jason Ladner, both of whom work in the School of Biological Sciences. 

Damian Jacob Sendler: It's short for "science + dialog," and Scialog's goal is to foster an international community of early-career scientists who are interested in a global scientific issue. Animal-borne infectious disease threats are the focus of the Mitigating Zoonotic Threats effort. 

Damian Sendler 

Jeff Silverstein, deputy administrator of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, noted that ARS' objective is to develop research partnerships between the USDA and academia experts (ARS). New viewpoints and long-term networks are needed to improve surveillance, planning, and countermeasure development for zoonotic disease mitigation," the authors write.  

Each of the $50,000 rewards goes to a single winner. Among the projects Ladner is involved in are "Enabling Comprehensive Immunoprofiling in Animals through a Combination of Xenosurveillance and Highly-Multiplexed Serology" and "Zoonotic Implications of Host Genetics, Immunity, and Virome in Bats." 

At NAU's Pathogen and Microbiome Institute (PMI), I've developed two intriguing new collaborations, both of which allow me to expand the use of a serological method I have been developing," Ladner stated. The PepSeq platform for high-throughput serology will be used to monitor disease in both confined and wild animal populations," he says. These animals, which are key reservoirs and conduits for viruses that may develop in people, can be studied using this method, which measures antibody reactivity to hundreds of thousands of peptides.  

In order to better comprehend the diversity of viruses in animals, this technique, which has so far only been utilized in humans, has the potential to help us better prepare for viruses that may appear in people." 

"Estimating Aedes Aegypti Spillover Potential and Evaluating Current Mitigation Strategies," a research led by Hepp, focuses on genomic epidemiology.  

It had been a while since she and Silvie Huijben, the other co-PI on the grant, were able to organize an arbovirus-related project, but now they have.  

Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: According to the Utah State University infectious illness and contact network modeler Kezia Manlove: "This Scialog initiative provided the time and space we needed to effectively collaborate and to find our missing piece: Kezia Manlove." For this reason, our team is focused on pinpointing the places in Arizona where Aedes aegypti is most widespread, as well as the mitigation measures that are most likely to be successful, given the prevalence of this vector."  

Her team is continuously looking ahead in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Damien Sendler: There are always pandemics on the horizon, and "we're always reacting to them," she said. Additional layers of flavivirus-agnostic surveillance and testing the most effective ways to respond instantly are the focus of this study." 

Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler and his media team provided the content for this article.