New malaria vaccine candidate seeks to block transmission
April 15, 2021: Two new studies advance a potentially groundbreaking transmission-blocking malaria vaccine. UF researcher Rhoel Dinglasan's approach is completely different: Immunizing mosquitoes with malaria transmission-blocking antibodies produced in people. Read More
COVID-19 vaccine effective against new variant in Brazil
April 9, 2021: UF investigators participate in the first study to determine that the CoronaVac vaccine is 50% effective at preventing COVID-19 in Manaus, Brazil where the P.1 variant is widespread. Read More
UF researcher’s “mop up” malaria vaccine funded for trials in people
March 31, 2021: A malaria vaccine designed by UF professor Rhoel Dinglasan is expected to advance to phase 1 clinical trials, thanks to new funding. The vaccine is designed differently from all others: It immunizes mosquitoes via people. Read More
Coronavirus ‘spillovers’ more frequent than thought
March 25, 2021: Coronaviruses common to animals may ‘spillover’ into people more frequently than once thought, according to new research from UF and Haitian investigators. Read More
UF research finds genetic markers for cattle health, growth
March 1, 2021: New UF/EPI study uncovers a connection between an animal's genetics and helpful gut bacteria that are associated with faster animal growth and resistance against disease. Read More
Keynote talks from EPI's Research Day 2021
February 25, 2021: EPI's annual Research Day was virtual this year, and the recorded keynote talks are available here. Read More
SARS-CoV-2 virus isolated from air within a car
Feb. 18, 2021: UF researchers collected the virus that causes COVID-19 from air within a car that was driven by someone with mild symptoms — but who was not wearing a face mask. Read More
New maps predict where medically important ticks are found in Florida
Feb. 1, 2021: New maps detailing the distribution of key tick species will help the Florida Department of Health with investigations into reports of tick-borne illnesses. Read More
New TB drug regimen slashes treatment time
Feb. 1, 2021: Tuberculosis is an age-old respiratory scourge, with a new twist: growing resistance to multiple first- and second-line drugs. UF researchers and physicians report on using a novel treatment to slash treatment time — and cure — a patient with extensively drug-resistant TB. Read More
Partial dose of yellow fever vaccine works in emergencies
Jan. 20, 2021: UF researchers contributed to a clinical trial that found using one-fifth of a standard dose of yellow fever vaccine is an effective strategy for emergency outbreak scenarios. Read More
National study refines proportion of illness due to microbes in food, water
Jan. 5, 2021: UF researchers led a comprehensive study estimating the proportion of food- and waterborne diseases in the US attributable to five major transmission pathways. Read More
How to shorten COVID-19 quarantines
Dec. 8, 2020: Hint: Rethink testing. New research shows how to reduce COVID-19 quarantine times by almost half simply by testing on exit from quarantine instead of entry. Read More
COVID-19 Vaccine Seminar Series
Dec. 1, 2020: UF's Emerging Pathogens Institute is pleased to announce the launch of an all-virtual seminar series focused on COVID-19 vaccine topics. Read More
Biothreat specialist
Nov. 23, 2020: A molecular biologist cultures an ecological perspective of biothreats in his new role at the Emerging Pathogens Institute. Read More
COVID-19 pandemic is worsened without coordination
Nov. 10, 2020: A lack of coordination in measures to control COVID-19 may accelerate cyclical outbreaks, according to a team of UF researchers. Read More
UF study examines effect of pandemic on children and households
Oct. 13, 2020: UF researchers ask how knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding the COVID-19 pandemic may affect infection rates, and the mental health, of children and their parents. Read More
UF researcher Ira Longini has COVID-19's number
October 5, 2020: Infectious disease modeler and biostatistician Ira Longini is applying decades of experience to help design and analyze clinical trials to identify a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. Read More
UF researchers scour coronavirus studies for clues to a future shared with COVID-19
Sept. 17, 2020: UF researchers sifted through several thousand studies on human coronaviruses related to the novel SARS-CoV-2 which causes COVID-19, with the goal of learning from the past to help shape the future. Read More
Smartphone-based saliva test that can detect COVID-19 earns UF professor honors in national contest
Sept. 17, 2020: UF infectious disease researcher Rhoel Dinglasan was part of a team that devised a saliva-based test for COVID-19. The team's design was one of six winners of the first-ever National Institutes of Health Technology Accelerator Challenge competition. Read More
Air-tight test: How a UF duo learned to sample aerosols for viruses
September 14, 2020: UF researchers Chang-Yu Wu, an engineer, and John Lednicky, a virologist, teamed up a decade ago to solve long-standing challenges in how air samples are collected and tested for viruses. Few people grasped the public health value of their work until a novel respiratory virus gave rise to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More
UF study reveals how Chlamydia acquires essential nutrients
Aug. 12, 2020: New work from the lab of Tony Maurelli, associate chair of the department of environmental and global health in UF's College of Public Health and Health Professions, has solved a quirky mystery about parasitic bacteria that cause the sexually-transmitted disease known as Chlamydia. Read More
Evaluating global crop risks: How crop landscapes affect disease
Aug. 5, 2020: When it comes to managing risks to food crops from pathogens, landscape connections may be just as key to the spread of diseases as are networked trade routes and a changing climate. Read More
UF researchers devise new measures of flu immunity
July 23, 2020: Two UF researchers collaborated with international colleagues to measure how an individual’s immunity to flu is shaped over a lifetime of exposures to multiple influenza viruses. The team devised new metrics to analyze a person’s antibody profile and how it changes over time. Read More
COVID-19’s sneaky spread: half of transmission is silent
July 11, 2020: A UF/EPI professor helped develop a model that estimates slightly more than half of COVID-19 transmission is due to people with no symptoms. A third or more of these cases would need to be isolated, in addition to most symptomatic cases, to quell the pandemic. Read More
Harnessing genome editing for COVID-19 drug discovery
June 30, 2020: A trio of interdisciplinary UF researchers are searching for genes that either hasten or thwart the growth of SARS-CoV-2 virus inside a human host. Their results may contribute to the search for a COVID-19 drug or therapeutic arsenal. Read More
Needed: a national tick strategy
June 17, 2020: Findings from a first-ever nationwide survey of tick management methods reveal the most significant roadblocks to creating a uniform, national tick strategy. Read More
EPI statement on racial public health disparities
June 9, 2020: EPI Director J. Glenn Morris, M.D., issues a statement about racial public health disparities and how his research organization supports eliminating racism and health inequities. Read More
Autopsies of COVID-19 victims reveal blood vessel damage
June 5, 2020: A UF virologist assisted a team of medical researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City with interpreting microscopic images of tissue samples from COVID-19 victims. The researchers found extensive damage to small blood vessels, and they propose a mechanism linking vessel injury with biological pathways that lead to an immune system in overdrive. Read More
A rare melioidosis case: from pathogen to commensal
May 15, 2020: An unusual melioidosis infection in Australia offers researchers a rare window into understanding how highly pathogenic bacteria can adapt to life within a host. Read More
The big picture: EPI's director speaks about the COVID-19 pandemic
April 10, 2020: In a wide-ranging discussion, UF's Emerging Pathogens Institute Director J. Glenn Morris, M.D., fields big-picture questions about the COVID-19 pandemic unfolding nationally and in Florida. Read More
EPI delivers: high capacity COVID-19 testing lab built in 10 days
April 9, 2020: Behind the scenes in mid-March, a group of researchers, students and lab technicians across campus came together and built a high throughput testing lab in the Emerging Pathogens Institute in just 10 days. “The timeline was so compressed, something like this would normally take at least a month,” says UF molecular biologist Tony Maurelli. Read More
Cholera bacteria colonize Haitian rivers, evolve
April 1, 2020: UF researchers uncovered evidence that the bacteria which cause cholera, Vibrio cholerae, have established an aquatic reservoir in Haitian waterways where they are now adapting and evolving. This marks the first time the pathogenic bacteria are known to have a reservoir outside of the Bay of Bengal, which is traditionally viewed as their home. Read More
Prevent COVID-19 spread in communities
March 12, 2020: Visit the CDC communities page. Read More
Expert: outbreak transmission dynamics
March 10, 2020: Researchers who study outbreak transmission dynamics can offer insight to the spread and containment of COVID-19 based on past emerging coronaviruses. UF biology professor Derek Cummings has investigated outbreak dynamics of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which emerged in 2002, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) which emerged in 2012. Read More
Study shows limits of travel bans in controlling new coronavirus spread
March 6, 2020: A new study published today in Science coauthored by EPI member Ira Longini analyzes effects of China's travel ban in slowing the spread of the new coronavirus which causes COVID-19. Read More
Curing mosquitoes, eliminating malaria
Nov. 25, 2019: A new study authored by EPI researcher Rhoel Dinglasan, Ph.D., and colleagues, twists the narrative in the fight against malaria by treating mosquitoes. His team showed that feeding a known antimalarial drug — intended for humans — to infected Anopheles mosquitoes rendered them unable to transmit malaria parasites to new hosts. Read More
Coronavirus consultant
March 4, 2020: UF research professor John Lednicky can pull live viruses out of thin air—and grow them. His past decades of inquiry into coronaviruses have positioned him as one of UF’s go-to experts on the newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 pathogen that is spreading globally. Read More
Science Scenes: Central and East Africa
March 2, 2020: Ever wonder what scientists are up to behind the scenes, when they are not consumed with crunching data, or endlessly editing papers for publication? They just may be traveling in far-flung places — hunting for data and building relationships with the people and places they study. This is the second photo essay in an occasional series, Science Scenes, in which we invite you to explore how EPI's faculty and affiliate researchers work across the globe. Read More
Chlamydia’s covert reproduction
Feb. 18, 2020: UF researchers have resolved a two-decade old mystery centered upon how the bacteria Chlamydia divide and reproduce. Newly published results from the lab of Anthony Maurelli, a microbiologist in UF’s College of Public Health and Health Professions and the EPI, reveal that how these parasitic pathogens replicate diverges from a nearly universal norm. Read More
Research Day recap: a dengue duet
Feb. 14, 2020: EPI's thirteenth annual research day took place yesterday, with nearly 150 poster presentations and two keynote speakers who both addressed the latest research in dengue, a growing global public health menace. Read More
Research Day 2020
Feb. 10, 2020: Join us Thursday, February 13 in the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom for the thirteenth annual EPI Research Day! Research Day is an event where EPI members and collaborators showcase their wide range of pathogen-related research. Read More
CAGED: Making food safer
Jan. 28, 2020: An international interdisciplinary project led by EPI investigator Arie Havelaar seeks to identify bacterial causes of enteric dysfunction and chronic gut inflammation in Ethiopian children. By studying complex interactions between livestock and people, the project aims to identify reservoirs and exposure pathways by which Campylobacter bacteria colonize kids. But interventions are the ultimate goal. Read More
Dengue double punch: Combo controls
Jan. 20, 2020: Dengue elimination may soon be within reach in Yucatán, Mexico if novel control methods are combined, according to a new study by UF researchers Ira Longini and Tom Hladish. The pair used 37 years of regional public health data to build a model which tested how unique combinations of dengue control measures perform. Read More
USVI healthcare stormed by 2017 hurricanes
October 17, 2019: When Hurricanes Irma and Maria lashed the Caribbean in 2017, the U.S. Virgin Islands experienced devastation similar to Puerto Rico, including massive disruption to their healthcare system, but with less media fanfare. The extent of damage unleashed by these storms on medical care in the U.S. Virgin Islands is only now coming into focus, thanks to research by UF's Emerging Pathogens Institute Director J. Glenn Morris and College of Medicine Interim Dean Adrian Tyndall. Read More
Zika epidemic likely suppressed dengue in Latin America
Dec. 16, 2019: New findings published today in Nature Communications show that the Zika virus epidemic in Latin America likely suppressed the incidence of dengue in subsequent years to aberrantly low levels. Then, dengue came roaring back. Read More
Gut bacteria blocks and enhances virus
Dec. 10, 2019: A new study published in Nature Microbiology reveals that bacteria present in different regions of the gastrointestinal tract either enhance or block murine norovirus infections. The startling findings expand our understanding of how the virus interacts with both its host immune system and the intestinal microbiome, which may one day be useful for developing an antiviral therapy. Read More
Taking Ebola’s measure
Dec. 4, 2019 : New research by EPI’s Burton Singer quantifies how civil disruption and violence has unraveled Ebola control measures in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province. His work demonstrates causative links between ongoing regional civil strife and upticks in Ebola incidence due to cycles of disrupted disease control. Read More
Eggplant’s newest pathogenic fungus
Nov. 22, 2019: A known pathogenic fungus, so far only reported to cause disease in two crops, has ensnared a third victim: eggplants. UF plant pathologists affiliated with both UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and the EPI, were the first to describe Lasiodiplodia hormozganensis’s jump to a new host. Read More
Unlocking Chlamydia’s persistent state
Nov. 6, 2019: New research from the EPI and UF’s College of Public Health & Health Professions found that exposing the sexually-transmitted bacterial pathogen Chlamydia to fosmidomycin — an antibiotic which is usually lethal to bacteria — causes Chlamydia to enter a protective bunker-like “persistent” state. The findings could bolster future efforts to intentionally disrupt the molecular changes that induce chlamydial persistence, leading to the prevention of chronic chlamydial infections. Read More
A host’s genetics shape its gut microbiome
Oct. 21, 2019: New research by EPI investigator KC Jeong looks at how a host’s genetic background strongly influences the composition and development of its gut microbiota. Read More
Universal Flu Vaccine: Worth Every Cent
October 7, 2019: New modeling by EPI researcher Burton Singer calculates that the substantial costs involved in developing a universal flu vaccine are worth every cent. Singer collaborated with a team from Yale University, University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Maryland to calculate that a universal flu vaccine would save $3.5 billion in direct medical costs annually and save 19,500 lives in the U.S. alone. Read More
Tuberculosis: It’s not the Clone Wars
Oct. 2, 2019: Whole genome sequencing allows researchers to quantify diversification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis within a host, showing that the individual bacteria comprising an infection are not all identical clones. Using a known TB cluster, Emerging Pathogens Institute researchers confirm that hosts can transmit all — or just some — of the genetic diversity unique to their mTB population to a new victim. Read More
Malaria's Spit Solution
Sept. 30, 2019: A new $1.29 million grant from the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund will support EPI malaria investigator Rhoel Dinglasan’s work to develop a novel saliva-based malaria diagnostic test that catches infections even when victims don’t show symptoms. Read More
Medical masks as good as respirators at preventing flu transmission
Sept. 3, 2019: A new study coauthored by EPI researcher Derek Cummings, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, resolves a long running debate over whether paper medical masks or respirator-style masks are more protective for health care workers against flu. Read More
Next-gen antimicrobials
August 21, 2019: EPI investigator KC Jeong aims to uncover the next generation of antimicrobials. From his microbiology lab to an experimental farm, his research explores how food animals are affected by novel and drug-resistant pathogens — and what kills them. Read More
UF researchers help discover novel compounds that curb melioidosis, a lethal tropical disease
August 20, 2019: Four EPI researchers have contributed to the discovery of two molecules shown to be effective at curbing Gram-negative Burkholderia bacterial infections, which cause the highly lethal tropical disease melioidosis in humans and animals. Read More
Science Scenes: El Oro, Ecuador
August 2, 2019: Ever wonder what scientists are up to behind the scenes, when they are not consumed with crunching data, or endlessly editing papers for publication? They just may be traveling in far-flung places — not only to hunt for data, but to build relationships with the people and places they study. This is the first photo essay in a new occasional series, Science Scenes, in which we invite you to explore how EPI's faculty and affiliate researchers work across the globe. Read More
New maps reveal first global estimate of anthrax risk
May 13, 2019: Newly published maps reveal, for the first time, where anthrax poses global risks to people, livestock and wildlife. The maps are the result of 15 years of data collection covering 70 countries compiled by Emerging Pathogens Institute associate research professor Jason Blackburn and his colleagues. Read More
Lethal bronzing spreads to new palm hosts, counties
July 17, 2019: A new study adds four additional species to the growing list of palm trees susceptible to lethal bronzing disease, for a revised total of 16. Researchers with UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute and the Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences sampled hundreds of palms in Florida to identify the new hosts, all of which are common ornamentals found throughout central and southern portions of the state. They also found the disease has spread to eight new counties. Read More
Global crop surveillance system, bulwark against disease
July 11, 2019: A proposed global surveillance system would act as a bulwark against diseases that threaten food crops. UF plant pathologist Karen Garrett, who is affiliated with both IFAS and the EPI, coauthored a policy paper in Science outlining a visionary system that would link existing local and national programs to identify, predict, monitor and mitigate outbreaks of emerging crop diseases. Read More
Rising insecticide resistance challenges mosquito control
July 8, 2019: Mosquitoes are developing high levels of resistance to all major classes of chemical insecticides. UF medical geographers investigate how resistance can fluctuate across seasons and geography, revealing useful data for real-time adaptive strategies to mitigate mosquito-borne diseases in people. Read More
New study maps risk of citrus greening establishment
July 2, 2019: A new study by an international research team, including UF medical geographer and EPI investigator Sadie Ryan, identifies global regions most at risk of -- and most resilient to -- citrus greening. There is no cure for infected trees, and the disease has wiped out millions of acres of citrus crops worldwide. Read More
Wilting Away
July 1, 2019: Plant pathology researchers with UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute and IFAS seek to uncover what drives the spread of laurel wilt disease, an emerging forest pathogen responsible for killing more than 300 million redbays. A new study led by IFAS-EPI postdoctoral researcher Robin Choudhury found that the biggest indicator of a Laurel family trees’ susceptibility was having a large diameter trunk and dense clustering. Read More
More Nitrogen in Mosquito Diet Reduces Its Ability to Transmit Zika
June 24, 2019: Feed mosquitoes more nitrogen when they’re young, and the adults are less likely to transmit the Zika virus, University of Florida scientists say. Now, researchers want to know why, and they’re determined to discover how the findings can help further their research into the dangerous virus. Read More
DEET: Safer than you think
May 30, 2019: EPI investigator Jeffrey Bloomquist reviewed the insect repellent DEET's safety record, and finds it poses little to no risk when used in compliance with product label directions. In fact, he says, it's a useful tool to prevent insect-borne diseases when utilized intermittently. Read More
Small delays can have a big impact on spread of Ebola
May 1, 2019: EPI investigator, and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences mathematics professor, Burton Singer has developed a model describing the spatial dynamics of Ebola transmission and the efficacy of its vaccine. Read More
EPI undergraduate research spans from Africa to Argentina
April 29, 2019: EPI investigator Song Liang enjoys introducing undergraduate students to the mesmerizing world of pathogens research. His most recent mentee, Lindsay Richards, recently won UF’s campus-wide Undergraduate Research Symposium best paper competition in the STEM/Medicine category. Read More
New maps show where mosquitoes will invade Ecuador’s Andes mountains
April 25, 2019: New research by EPI and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences medical geographers offers Ecuadorian health officials a sneak preview of where mosquito-borne diseases may shift into the Andean mountain foothills as our planet’s climate warms into the midcentury. Read More
Decoding Legionnaire’s disease
April 22, 2019: New research led by EPI-IFAS researcher KC Jeong describes for the first time precisely how the Legionnaire's disease bacterium evades detection by the immune system. Read More
Malaria cases in Ecuador and Peru raise alarm
April 9, 2019: Several cases of malaria have been confirmed in regions of Ecuador and Peru where the disease was once considered eliminated. New research by EPI investigator and medical geographer Sadie Ryan ties these cases to the collapse of Venezuela’s public health infrastructure and subsequent flow of emigrants through neighboring countries. Read More
Climate change will expose more people to mosquito-borne diseases
March 29, 2019: EPI researcher and medical geographer Sadie Ryan led a study that uses innovative maps to show how a warming world will open up new land regions, and the half billion people or more who inhabit them, to mosquito-borne diseases such as yellow fever, Zika, dengue and chikungunya over the next 30 years. Read More
Stalking arboviruses
March 18, 2019: EPI and UF College of Veterinary Medicine researcher Maureen Long helped build a patient surveillance system in Pakistan to track and diagnose mosquito-borne diseases. The project captured outbreaks and laid the groundwork for a countrywide surveillance, detection and reporting system. Read More
New study explores Galapagos Islands’ dengue risks
March 13, 2019: In a first-of-its kind study on the Galapagos Islands, EPI researcher Sadie Ryan investigated social and ecological factors associated with dengue, as well as the presence of the mosquito that spreads it. Read More
Venezuela’s public health woes are poised to become South America’s
Feb. 22, 2019: Three EPI investigators are coauthors to published research on Venezuela’s public health crisis and how it is affecting bordering South American countries. Vaccine-preventable diseases and insect-borne diseases are increasing as mosquito-control measures subside and public health infrastructure crumbles. Read More
Grazing cows acquire antibiotic resistant microbes from soil, water
Feb. 21, 2019: An Emerging Pathogens Institute microbiologist has identified high concentrations of naturally-occurring antibiotic-resistant microbes within the guts of grazing cows and calves fed a diet free from antibiotics. The source? Soil, water and forage found in the cows’ environment. Read More
EPI's Annual Research Day
Feb. 12, 2019: Hundreds of students, faculty and state employees gathered at U.F.'s Reitz Union to present posters and share ideas and interests on pathogens affecting plants, animals, humans, and food safety. Keynote speakers discussed trends in plant pathogens and challenges to reduce and eliminate neglected tropical diseases. Read More
Dengue immunity may buffer against Zika
Feb. 8, 2019: EPI Researcher discovers that people who have developed immunity against dengue virus have built-in protection against infection from the Zika virus. Read More
Venezuela's next crisis: rampant spread of infectious diseases
Jan. 30, 2019: The nation's crippled vaccination program has led to record numbers in cases of measles, diphtheria and other vaccine-preventable diseases, creating a regional public health crisis. Read More
Madariaga virus spreads to Haiti
Jan. 18, 2019: EPI members, including director Glenn Morris, identified Madariaga virus for the first time in Haitian children in 2015-2016. Prior to their work, this emerging infectious agent had been found mostly in animals of South and Central America, with the first human outbreak occurring in Panama in 2010. Read More
UF/EPI researchers develop rapid, inexpensive test for Zika
Jan. 14. 2019: UF researchers with Emerging Pathogens Institute affiliations have created a rapid, cost-effective point-of-care test for the Zika virus. Read More
New saliva-based test detects malaria before symptoms appear
Jan. 10, 2019: An easy-to-use saliva test to screen for the parasite that causes malaria has been developed by a team of researchers led by Emerging Pathogens Institute faculty member Rhoel Dinglasan. Read More