The spirit of collaboration is alive and well — and it is driving innovation in the world of infectious disease research.
It was thick in the air at EPI Research Day 2025, the flagship event of the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute. With nearly 500 registrants and 150 abstract submissions, the institute celebrated the power of cross-disciplinary teamwork. Community science was at its core — from the burgeoning undergraduate to the seasoned fellow in the pursuit of knowledge.
“Today we celebrate collaboration,” said EPI Interim Director Marco Salemi, Ph.D. “I remember attending my first research day back in 2009. Now, as interim director, it’s wonderful to be a part of this event still almost two decades later.”
Alberto Paniz-Mondolfi, M.D., Ph.D., a world-renowned scientist from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, further emphasized the need for international partnerships to advance neglected tropical disease research.
Ten years of research and friendship
When Paniz-Mondolfi stepped off the plane from New York, he was welcomed by colleagues he had been collaborating with for ten years. With hugs and laughs all around, it would be hard to believe these researchers had never met in person.
“It’s like we did not need to meet in person … it was as if we had been together all our life. … In the pathology language, we call that a syncytium,” Paniz-Mondolfi said jovially.
Paniz-Mondolfi, an associate professor, is a skilled pathologist who focuses on trypanosomatid parasitic infections, eco-epidemiological and pathological aspects of arthropod-borne viruses and protozoa. The rich biodiversity of South America, paired with a fiending curiosity and respect for the natural world, created the perfect “aha!” moment when choosing his career after several moments of doubt.
“When I started seeing everyone together, the parasites, the bacteria, the viruses and the vast richness, you know?” said Paniz-Mondolfi. “We basically had them all in our little, tiny country. I was like, ‘oh my God, this is it.’”
Since he was a child growing up in the lush tropics of Venezuela, Paniz-Mondolfi’s life has been nourished by curiosity and the natural world around him.
“It was my grandpa, which was a huge influence. Grandpa Mondolfi. … He was a zoologist. … So, if we didn’t go to the jungle, the jungle came home. My grandpa’s house was always, always full of students — he used to teach in the Central University of Venezuela. I never saw my grandparents’ house door closed.”
Paniz-Mondolfi epitomizes the benefits of multidisciplinary collaboration. In 2015, while conducting clinical research on tropical diseases in Venezuela, he was able to reconnect with a long-time family friend who happened to be working as a Ph.D. candidate in EPI member John Lednicky’s, Ph.D., laboratory.
Gabriela Blohm, Ph.D., was visiting her grandmother and Paniz-Mondolfi’s mother in Venezuela, where the duo met in person. Once Blohm was back in Gainesville, Florida, she told Paniz-Mondolfi to expect a call from UF. On a drive to Caracas, Venezuela, Paniz-Mondolfi received that very call from what would become a long-term collaboration at the EPI. Ten years later, he still dives into discoveries with Lednicky, EPI Interim Director Marco Salemi and EPI Associate Director of Research Initiatives J. Glenn Morris, Jr., M.D.
“Basically, the striking novelties that we uncovered in those four years of work … I think the only reason that happened is because EPI has the magic blend. … It is surrounded by the college of medicine, the veterinary school, IFAS. It’s a melting pot. The EPI is a little magnet that brings all that together,” Paniz-Mondolfi said.
At the time, Zika virus was spreading across Latin America. Having Paniz-Mondolfi conduct research in the field was incredibly beneficial in unearthing more about the virus and its transmission in tropical climates. Together, Paniz-Mondolfi and Lednicky developed and published protocols aimed at identifying arboviral infections, as well as novel, clinical phenotypes affecting patients with these infections, such as ocular flutters and Alice in Wonderland syndrome.
Several years later, SARS-CoV-2, the culprit behind COVID-19, was beginning to rear its ugly head. Paniz-Mondolfi managed to push through EUA/FDA approval for saliva testing at Mount Sinai in a record time of six months. In 2020, he and Lednicky reunited to prove — for the first time — the presence and replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the human brain, as well as one of the potential mechanisms of entry of the virus to the brain.
The duo then demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 was a far more complex, multiorgan illness than initially anticipated. Three years later, during the multi-country outbreak of Mpox virus, they deciphered a possible replication mechanism linked to the melanosomes in the skin cells.
“Marco [Salemi]’s presence in the team was priceless, because he was the man behind the scenes,” Paniz-Mondolfi said when asked about the proverbial dream team. “Without a molecular epidemiologist of his stature, it would have been very difficult to decipher the evolutionary intricacies of each of these viruses we came across.”
Back in Florida—a known hot spot for vector-borne tropical diseases—the subtropical flora and fauna have enabled EPI members and Paniz-Mondolfi to progress into a decade-long alliance turned friendship.
Florida: Home sweet home for tropical infectious diseases
Paniz-Mondolfi and many members of the EPI go beyond Zika to study a plethora of other tropical diseases, including Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, dengue virus, and now emerging pathogens like Mayaro virus and Oropouche virus.
Beatty and Paniz-Mondolfi spend an afternoon in the field searching for Triatoma sanguisuga, or ‘kissing bugs.’ (Photo sourced by Norman Beatty)
Chagas is a poorly understood and potentially lethal disease endemic to Florida and parts of South America. It is caused by a parasite spread primarily through the feces of kissing bugs, nuisance blood-sucking insects that can invade our homes. Many people with Chagas are unaware they have the disease, but once it becomes chronic, it can attack the heart, brain and other parts of the body with devastating results.
Though underreported, researchers believe the “emerging pathogens” may have called Florida’s subtropical climate home long before their initial detection. Paniz-Mondolfi’s scientific efforts work in tandem with the research done by EPI member Norman Beatty, M.D. Beatty’s research highlights how the framework for Chagas disease transmission in Florida is here to stay. Working with other researchers in this field, such as Paniz-Mondolfi, helps bring resources and awareness to issues that appear novel to us but have lingered beneath the surface, daring to be observed.
“You can not only be a physician, or you can not only be a biologist, you have got to be a jack of all trades. You have got to know about the people. You have got to know about the environment. It takes a lot of multidisciplinary approaches to build up a nice core of knowledge that will allow you to be a good tropical medicine, or an emerging infectious disease, practitioner,” said Paniz-Mondolfi.
Collaboration, community, curiosity: A global effort
At EPI Research Day 2025, the Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center echoed Paniz-Mondolfi’s closing statement, “Let humble ambitions lead your way.” This sentiment captures the core of the EPI. Empowering the scientific community and celebrating the multifaceted nature of infectious disease research is the crux of the institute’s mission, from the molecular level to ecosystems in Florida and the planet.
“[The] EPI has created the table in which everyone has a little piece to the puzzle, in a very friendly, collegial, and truly and genuinely collaborative way,” said Paniz-Mondolfi. “I think that [the] EPI is the perfect setting to [encourage cross-collaboration] because you have everyone sitting at the table, everybody’s happily collaborating to put the pieces of that puzzle together.”
Written by: Sydney Burge