- How we can outsmart epidemics
- What vaccinating vampire bats can teach us about pandemics
- How diseases and epidemics move through a breath of air
- Rumors, trust, and vaccines
- 3 building blocks for pandemic prevention that inspire optimism
- Can we create vaccines that mutate and spread?
- Q&A with Peter Piot about COVID-19
In A Nutshell
Daniel Streicker is investigating how everyday killer pathogens can provide insight into future outbreaks of infectious disease.
About Daniel
Daniel Streicker uses ecology and evolution to reveal, anticipate and prevent infectious disease transmission between species. His research uses a range of approaches including longitudinal field studies in wild bats, phylodynamics, machine learning, metagenomics, and epidemiological modeling. In Peru, Daniel uses bat and virus genetics to connect bats’ movements with the spread of rabies virus. With this technique, he and his team are able to forecast outbreaks before they begin, providing valuable lead times for governments to take preventative actions, such as vaccinating humans and livestock ahead of outbreaks. Daniel is a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow and head of the Streicker Group at the University of Glasgow Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine and the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research.
Learn More
Streicker Group - Media Coverage
"Phylodynamics reveals extinction-recolonization dynamics underpin apparently endemic vampire bat rabies in Costa Rica." Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 2019.
"Predicting reservoir hosts and arthropod vectors from evolutionary signatures in RNA virus genomes." Science. 2018.
"Host–pathogen evolutionary signatures reveal dynamics and future invasions of vampire bat rabies." Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences (PNAS). 2016.
"Foraging choices of vampire bats in diverse landscapes: potential implications for land‐use change and disease transmission.” Journal of Applied Ecology. 2016.
“From persistence to cross-species emergence of a viral zoonosis.” Science. 2013.
"Rates of viral evolution are linked to host geography in bat rabies." PLOS Pathogens. 2012.
"Host phylogeny constrains cross-species emergence and establishment of rabies virus in bats." Science. 2010.
COVID-19 is an airborne virus that has spread throughout the world, but it is not the first Pandemic nor will it be the last.
We will continue to be confronted with rapidly spreading viruses like COVID-19, and must prepare to respond appropriately and swiftly. Attention must be given to developing systems to prevent, aid, and protect us from future pandemics.
This Playlist examines multiple facets of pandemic prevention, transmission, and response,
- addressing pandemic threats
- global vaccine uptake
- novel therapeutic development
- mechanisms of viral transmission.
As a society, we may be able to more effectively act against pandemics and epidemics as they emerge.
These speakers provide insight to what has happened and what can be prevented IF the right systems are in place.
