Data-driven virus discovery is revolutionizing our understanding of virology across Earth’s biosphere. In 2020 there were 15,000 known RNA viruses, since then our lab has discovered more new species (currently 375,000+) than everyone else in the world combined, including so called “Dark RNA Viruses” (see Nature paper)

Our lab explores the evolution, ecology, and molecular interactions of these viruses through state-of-the-art computational analysis. Our focus is on how these viruses intersect human health and disease. Currently we’re searching for viruses which cause neurodegenerative disease (i.e. Alzheimer’s) and human cancers. By finding such causal agents, it creates the possibility of developing vaccines or new therapies against devastating diseases.
Your project will be to select/prioritize the thousands of “candidate unknown human viruses” we have identified, and characterize them by any means to identify which viruses are human pathogens.

Info links

• Entering the Platinum Age of Virus Discovery Talk
• Quirks and Quarks Podcast on our research
• Serratus flagship paper