Scientists used advanced genomic sequencing technology to identify a single point of infection from an animal reservoir to a human in the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa. This research has also revealed the dynamics of how the Ebola virus has been transmitted from human to human, and traces how the genetic code of the virus is changing over time to adapt to human hosts. Pardis Sabeti, M.D., Ph.D, a 2009 National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator awardee and her team carried out the research.
Ebola outbreak traced back to toddler and fruit bat | WJLA.com
the researchers pinpointed a single late-2013 infection of a human by an animal. The New Zealand Herald interviewed scientists who believe that contact may have been between a toddler and a straw-colored fruit bat. From there, NIH officials said the virus spread exclusively from that toddler to other humans.
Pardis Sabeti, the Rollerblading Rock Star Scientist of Harvard | Science | Smithsonian
Dr. Pardis Sabeti is an Assistant Professor at the Center for Systems Biology at Harvard University, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. Dr. Sabeti is an evolutionary geneticist with extensive expertise studying genetic diversity, developing algorithms to detect genetic signatures of natural selection, and carrying out genetic association studies. Sabeti completed her undergraduate degree at MIT and continued her education at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, before returning to earn her medical degree from Harvard Medical School where she was only the third woman ever to graduate summa cum laude.
In San Diego, to learn more about Genomics and its applications, visit the Reuben H Fleet Science Center described at:
Genome: Unlocking Life's Code | Reuben H. Fleet Science Center - San Diego, CA
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