Thesis Defense: 'Viral Surveillance and Genome Analysis of Bat Borne Viruses; Coronaviruses of Southcentral Alaskan Myotis' on April 30

Please join M.S. Candidate in Biological Sciences, William George, for a public thesis defense via Zoom beginning at 3:30 p.m. April 30.

Description: Bats are known reservoirs for a multitude of viruses including filo-, flavi-, corona-, and lyssa-virus. Over the past two decades, three zoonotic events have occurred from coronavirus, including SARS, MERS, and most recently SARS-CoV-2. Alaska is native to five different bat species the most widespread being little the brown bat (Myotis lucifugus). Using molecular testing, phylogenetics, and in silico modeling, I sequenced and assembled a novel Alaskan bat-borne coronavirus. Through phylogenetic and spike structural analysis, it was determined that this aligned within the alphacoronavirus (αCoVs) genus and is closely related to known North American bat αCoVs. My project outlines the ability for Alaskan little brown bats to be natural reservoirs for diverse αCoV species and the creation of molecular and phylogenetic workflows to test and classify Arctic bats for CoVs.

Join Zoom meeting

[Zoom Meeting ID: 881 8202 6386 / Passcode: 504741]

April Archive