Emerging Pathogens Institute
EPI was created in 2006 to facilitate interdisciplinary studies of emergence and control of human, animal and plant pathogens of concern to the world.
EPI collaborates with over 250 faculty members from around the world annually.
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
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
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
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
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
Chris Bauch is a professor and University Research Chair in the Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo, Canada. He studies epidemiological and ecological systems with a particular emphasis on evaluating interventions such as vaccines. Read More
Jaap Wagenaar was trained as a veterinarian and completed his PhD study at Utrecht University and the USDA-National Animal Diseases Center, Ames, IA, US. He worked at the reference institute of the Dutch MoA, with WHO, CDC and USDA. In 2006 he was appointed as chair in Clinical Infectious Diseases at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Read More
November 19, 2019: Mustafizur Rahman, PhD, is the Head of Virology Laboratory and a Senior Scientist in Infectious Diseases Division at International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. He completed BS and MS in Microbiology from University of Dhaka in Bangladesh and received his PhD in Virology from University of Leuven in Belgium in 2008. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in EPI during 2013-14. Read More
Jan Powell, PhD, MPH, currently works as a Senior Scientist for the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) in New Zealand. She is a member of Risk Assessment and Social Systems team lead by Dr. Rob Lake, with a focus on public health risk analysis of microbiological and chemical hazards in food and drinking water. Jan received her MSc and PhD from the University of Otago, in the laboratory of Prof. Margaret Loutit studying the prevalence and pathogenesis of fish pathogen Vibrio anguillarum in the environment and salmon. Read More
October 1, 2019: Ellen Knuepfer, PhD, works as a Principal Laboratory Research Scientist and later this year will establish a new group at the Royal Veterinary College. She started her career with a PhD from Imperial College, in Deborah F. Smith’s laboratory studying proteins essential for Leishmania transmission. Read More