Danny treating a calf
Pandemics don’t start in hospitals. They often start in animals.
That’s why university vet schools matter so much for public health and pandemic preparedness.
I’ve written about the proposed closure of Cambridge Vet School and why it has national consequences.
open.substack.com/pub/dannycha...
We created a database of all published paramyxovirus detection attempts in pteropodid bats! Lots of sampling gaps and avenues for future study ⬇️ Excited to share this PhD chapter with @danjbecker.bsky.social and @viralemergence.org, out last month in @plos.org 🦇🦠🔓
journals.plos.org/plosntds/art...
Accelerate Lunchtime Seminar Series event on Monday 24 November, Seminar Room SS03 in William Gates Building, 12:00-13:00, Register at the link
Interested to find out more about research taking place in AI for Science? 🔬
Join us over pizza for our second @acceleratescience.bsky.social Lunchtime Seminar this term on 24 Nov, 12 - 1pm in Room SS03, William Gates Building!
Register to attend for free: science.ai.cam.ac.uk/events/accel...
Super excited to finally share this! #CollectionsAreEssential
Some difficult news from the team: In NSF's FY25-26 Budget Request to Congress, we learned that our program will take a whopping 50% cut - meaning that in September, we'll be $1.25m short of an operating budget that currently supports a cohort of seven PhD students, four postdocs, and three full-time staff. Verena is one of the largest and last pandemic prevention-focused programs in the United States: since 2020, we've supported the training of over 60 postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates. Our researchers have established unique laboratory resources for studying animal immune systems, and discovered new antiviral immune adaptations in bats; developed risk assessment algorithms for wildlife and livestock viruses, and diagnostic algorithms for viruses like dengue, Ebola, and Zika; and quantified the effects of climate change, deforestation, and factory farming on spillover risk. Everything we develop is 100% open source, and our data has supported the research of nearly 150 external researchers in 21 countries to date. We have three months to make up our budget shortfall. Every dollar spent on Verena supports not just our team, but the community of researchers who use our data, code, and resources. You can help us by sharing this post, and reaching out if you're able to support a unique and vulnerable program. Or just head over to viralemergence.org, and take a look at what we do. 🦟 🦇 🦠
An update from the team on the uncertain future of our program and the impact of NSF budget cuts. Please share and reach out 🦠
