With an eye toward host-pathogen interactions, can a Penn State center predict and prevent the next pandemic?
By Brendan Borrell
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"Our vision really is to have a systems approach to disease," says Hudson. "Issues that go from intracellular interactions between viruses and cells right the way through to pandemics, something we call the protein-to-pandemic link."
Pathogens don't just interact, they evolve. In the 1960s, optimistic researchers had declared victory over infectious disease. It was time to move on to heart disease, cancer, and psychiatric disorders. That bubble burst in 1981 with the recognition of HIV. The disease had leapt from nonhuman primates to humans and continued to evolve and diversify in ways scientists still don't understand.
Bryan Grenfell began his career on this first wave of disappointment. He worked with Roy Anderson, an early pioneer of disease ecology at Imperial College London, to build mathematical models of the ...
