Burton H. Singer, Ph. D., a prolific member of the University of Florida Emerging Pathogens Institute, passed away on Feb. 15, 2026. With former faculty positions at Princeton University, Yale School of Public Health and Columbia University, Singer authored over 1,300 publications over seven decades.
University of Florida Emerging Pathogens Institute assistant scientist Jeff Gruntmeir, Ph.D., won first place in the early-stage investigator poster competition at EPI Research Day 2025.
The University of Florida’s AI initiative has transformed faculty research. Here's how Jason Blackburn and Marco Salemi, members of the Emerging Pathogens Institute, are using AI in their work.
From the beginning, the COVID-19 pandemic has been plagued by myths and misunderstandings about how the disease spreads and how people can protect themselves from the disease. We've come a long way in understanding COVID-19, but distrust of the vaccine prevails to the great detriment of public health.
University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine assistant scientist Jeff Gruntmeir, Ph.D., won first place in the early-stage investigator poster competition at EPI Research Day 2024.
New research reveals that intense COVID-19 viral exposure may diminish the shielding effects of vaccination and previous infection, resulting in “leaky” protection.
Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, were present in the blood of 96.4% of Americans over the age of 16 by September 2022.
For their study, the investigators, who are also members of UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute, evaluated population normalization factors, which are used to determine the relative human fecal contribution in a sample. With this information, scientists can control for fluctuations in the population contributing to a wastewater sample throughout time while quantifying the SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations.
University of Florida researchers are refining wastewater surveillance techniques—a public health tool dating to the 1940s—to monitor cities, neighborhoods, and individual buildings for traces of COVID-19, fentanyl, and pesticides.
A UF mathematician collaborates with Yale School of Public Health researchers to evaluate the agreement of results between PCR testing and 18 commercially available rapid antigen tests for decision-making in remote work settings on when to end an individual's quarantine.
