SESSION
Genes and germs: metagenomic approaches to emerging pathogens in Africa and beyond
Metagenomics is a powerful technique that sequences the total genetic material present in a biological sample, encompassing all microorganisms within it. Technical advances and plummeting costs of genomic sequencing, combined with open-source, cloud-based software for data analysis, now allow it to serve as a powerful tool to identify, track, and respond to emerging pathogens in low-resource settings.
In this session we will consider how a One Health approach to metagenomics is providing a deeper understanding of emerging pathogens for nimble, speedy responses to human disease outbreaks and pandemic preparedness. We will also present case studies that look at efforts to characterise and track novel viruses with zoonotic potential in Madagascan fruit bats and in rodent and python species in Malawi.
Pete FarleySession proposer and producer | Biohub San Francisco | United States
Pete Farley is the director of communications at Biohub in San Francisco, and has worked in science writing, editing, and journalism for more than 25 years. He served on the programme committee for the 2017 World Conference of Science Journalists which took place in San Francisco.
Cristina TatoSpeaker | Biohub San Francisco | United States
Cristina Tato, PhD, MPH, is director of the Rapid Response group at Biohub in San Francisco, where she works on public health capacity and global emergency response efforts during epidemics. Her background is in infectious disease immunology, cytokine biology, and systems immunology methods for studying human health and disease.
Gama BandaweSpeaker | Malawi University of Science and Technology | Malawi
Gama Bandawe is a medical virologist at the Malawi Institute for Science and Technology. He obtained his doctorate from the University of Cape Town, and began his career at UCT’s Institute for Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, where he was part of the HIV Diversity and Pathogenesis Research group.
Hafaliana Christian RanaivosonSpeaker | University of California, Berkeley | Madagascar
Christian Ranaivoson is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley. He leads metagenomic next-generation sequencing (NGS) efforts targeting viral discovery in Madagascan fruit bats and in febrile patients presenting to public hospitals in Madagascar. He holds a PhD from the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar, where his research focused on the distribution and transmission of intra-erythrocytic parasites of Malagasy fruit bats, specifically Babesia spp. infections of the Madagascar flying fox, Pteropus rufus. As a research engineer at the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Ranaivoson led NGS studies focused on SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance in Madagascar. As a master’s student, Ranaivoson studied infections of Malagasy crayfish and nematode parasites of Malagasy reptiles.