Confronting the Plagues of our Times –
Genomics Detectives on Prospects for COVID and Future Outbreaks
Presented by
Stephen J. O’Brien, PhD
NSU Professor
Friday, January 28, 12 pm
In person at the Mailman Auditorium and
“hybrid” via ZOOM – https://nova.zoom.us/j/92575303738
(Because of current COVID safeguards, there will be no eating in the auditorium)
Seminar Overview:
In 23 months, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all in varied aspects of society and public health. Join in some wide ranging adventure stories in pursuit of the lessons from historic outbreaks – the horrors and the science- of bubonic plague, AIDS, SARS , COVID-19, and others to appreciate the role of science and society in suffering, maligning, and managing invisible albeit deadly bio-threats. Powerful advances of the genomics era will illuminate the perils, action, and missteps taken to ablate these deadly diseases. There is also a cautious prognostication of the paths to protection about the future coming plagues to humankind.
Speaker’s Bio:
Stephen J. O’Brien is NSU’s own member of the National Academy of Sciences[1] and a Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is also known for a career of research advances in medical genetics, evolutionary genomics, genetic epidemiology, mammalian systematics and species conservation. Author or co-author of over 850 scientific articles and the editor of fourteen volumes.
From 1986 to 2011, O’Brien served as Chief of the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH). In December 2012, he founded and directed the Theodosius Dobzhansky Center for Genome Bioinformatics (named after Theodosius Dobzhansky) at St. Petersburg State University, Russia as Chief Scientific Officer.[2] In January 2013, he joined the NSU Faculty as Professor at the Oceanographic Center, Nova Southeastern University, Ft Lauderdale Florida.
Since November 2019, O’Brien serves as Professor and CSO for the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at ITMO University, St. Petersburg, Russia.