Biomolecular Sciences Seminar Series

Dr. Boris Vinatzer, Virginia Tech

Title: Making Sense of Nonsense: Opportunities and Challenges of Metagenomics for Pathogen Identification

Abstract: The sooner we can detect an emerging disease outbreak, the more likely it is that we can contain it before it turns into an epidemic or pandemic. In order to contain an outbreak, we need to develop high throughput diagnostics. In the case of human and animal diseases, we also need to develop vaccines and drugs to prevent and treat illness. In the case of plant diseases, we need to develop disease-resistant crops. To do all this, we need to sequence the emerging pathogen as soon as possible. Metagenomic sequencing, i.e., sequencing all DNA or RNA in a sample of a symptomatic host, was used to identify and sequence SARS-CoV-2 in January 2020, which allowed to develop PCR tests and vaccines. My group is developing metagenomic sequencing for animal and plant pathogen identification. Many challenges still need to be overcome to make this approach work routinely, reliably, and quickly. This seminar will go over the basic concepts and technologies used in metagenomic sequencing for pathogen identification. Using examples of bacterial and fungal plant diseases, current challenges and how we might overcome them will be highlighted.

Host: Dr. Konrad Meister, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry