How UNC Charlotte’s New CIPHER Center May Unlock the Secrets of the Next Pandemic

How UNC Charlotte’s New CIPHER Center May Unlock the Secrets of the Next Pandemic

Professors Dan Janies (left) and Adam Reitzel (right), co-directors of UNC Charlotte’s new CIPHER center. Photographs By Herman Nicholson.

In a recent interview with Greg Lacour, from Charlotte Magazine, Professors Dan Janies and Adam Reitzel discussed UNC Charlotte’s new CIPHER center. They explained how CIPHER promises to help unveil critical information about emerging infectious diseases and environmental risks by breaking through the barriers that separate researchers from each other.

“If you work on just one thing—and we’re often trained to be reductionist—you’re not going to figure it all out, the animal piece and the microbial piece and the environmental piece,” says Professor Janies in his office while interviewed by Greg Lacour. “So what we’re trying to foster is team science, where we hire scientists who are open to collaborating and working in teams on projects. So we’ll have a zoologist, a microbiologist, and maybe an environmentalist or behaviorist working on problems like the emergence of new viruses that can cause harm in the human population.”

Professor Reitzel also commented on CIPHER can help promote scientific collaboration to answer the most pressing questions about infectious diseases and the environment. “Because we’ll all be together, we can have these conversations in real-time and under one roof. It facilitates faster action across what have been these traditionally siloed disciplines or approaches,” said Professor Reitzel. “It’s also going to spur a bunch of new ideas and new ways to think about how we can do the science better.”

CLICK HERE to read the full Charlotte Magazine’s article.

How UNC Charlotte’s New CIPHER Center May Unlock the Secrets of the Next Pandemic