HSLIC's Biomedical Informatics Seminar Series Presents: Joseph A. Cook, PhD - UNM Distinguished Professor of Biology and Curator of Mammals, Museum of Southwestern Biology.
Topic: Connecting the World to Vital Biodiversity Data
You are invited to join us on Thursday, November 4th from 10 to 11 AM, for an intriguing talk by Dr. Cook.
This seminar will describe the role of natural history collections (biorepositories) as fundamental infrastructure for zoonotic pathogen research. Because a large majority (>70%) of all newly emerging pathogens (including the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic) come from wildlife sources, there is a huge need to develop a better understanding of pathogen/wildlife associations. OneHealth approaches would be greatly improved if they bolstered an emphasis on understanding the fundamental roles that biodiversity plays in human health. The role of natural history biorepositories in emerging pathogen discovery, mitigation and even prediction will be discussed.
By completion of this seminar, participants should be able to:
1. Describe the general characteristics of biorepositories and associated informatics platforms.
2. Understand the role of biorepositories in pathogen research and mitigation.
3. Recognize new approaches to facilitating and stimulating integration across multiple research disciplines.
Please email TaWheeler@salud.unm.edu to request Zoom info.