A Virus at the Door

Viruses are thieves. They break in. They take what they want and they leave (or do they?). Sometimes they make us sick. How? Why? And what on earth can we do about this? Roll up roll up, a story of cellular payback awaits...

Hop aboard to travel from inside the nucleus of a cell to outer space with the herpesviruses we all share and that (sometimes) make us very sick.

Vampire bat rabies is a deadly viral disease that threatens human and animal health across Latin America. In Europe and the US, wildlife rabies in foxes or raccoons has been successfully controlled by widespread use of vaccine-laced food baits. However, the bloodthirsty diet of vampires prevents the same approach, complicating control and demanding more strategic prevention efforts. Viral genome sequencing is now routinely used in many epidemics and pandemics to ‘track’ the spread and ‘trace’ the causes of outbreaks. This talk will explore how genomics and mapping can help control bat rabies.