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UNC Charlotte’s Drs. Cynthia Gibas and Jessica Schlueter are running the only lab in Mecklenburg County sequencing positive COVID-19 tests The latest SARS-CoV-2 data shows that the Delta variant accounts for at least 62% of positive COVID-19 cases in Mecklenburg County. That information was determined by scientists studying the virus’ genetic makeup right on the […]

Not all superheroes wear capes. Some don lab coats and goggles as they use their scholarly powers to identify new ways to predict and thwart the threat of planet-wide pandemics. An interdisciplinary team of UNC Charlotte researchers — who like movie superheroes possess an extraordinary ability to make the world a better place — are […]

UNC Charlotte’s pandemic response receives 2021 AASCU Excellence and Innovation Award The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) has named UNC Charlotte among its 2021 winners of its Excellence and Innovation Awards in recognition of the University’s response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. This special, one-time award recognized model work in achieving student […]

CIPHER’s new wet labs will be operational in January 2023 Photo by Jacob Scannell. On UNC Charlotte’s main campus, supplies and equipment are already being placed on the fourth floor of the bioinformatics building. That is where the new wet labs of the Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks (CIPHER) will […]

SARS-CoV-2 reinfection likely without vaccination Researchers from Yale School of Public Health and Temple University joined forces provided the first estimates of the expected probability of infection given IgG antibody levels to the spike protein for SARS-CoV-2, as well as for SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and the endemic coronaviruses HCoV-229E, HCoV-HKU1, HCoV-OC43, and HCoV-NL63, under endemic conditions. […]

Professors Daniel Janies and Adam Reitzel, co-directors of the new CIPHER center at UNC Charlotte. Photographs By Herman Nicholson. In a new article, Phillip Brown (assistant director of strategic content for University Communications) writes about how CIPHER researchers are taking a collaborative approach to protect public health. In the article, Brown interviews Drs. Daniel Janies […]

Photo by Kat Lawrence. Like it or not, we need bats. They get a bad rap (and can be a little scary). Yet, they are essential to a balanced ecosystem. Dr. Laurel Yohe, Assistant Professor of Bioinformatics at UNC Charlotte, explains why. Moreover, in this article by Susan Messina, Dr. Yohe also shares the existential […]

UNC Charlotte’s response to monkeypox This electron microscopic (EM) image depicted a monkeypox virion obtained from a clinical sample associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. It was a thin-section image of a human skin sample. On the left were mature, oval-shaped virus particles, and on the right were the crescents and spherical particles of […]

It’s been a bit since we’ve heard much about a new COVID variant. With people starting to get their boosters and the holidays in full-swing, this seems like an inopportune time to hear about a new, “mega-mutated” variant: B.1.1.529. B.1.1.529 was first uploaded to GISAID on November 22nd (accession: EPI_ISL_6752027) by a team of researchers […]

Omicron variant: Group of local researchers discusses vaccine effectiveness against the new SARS-CoV-2 variant Transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, isolated from a patient. Image captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Credit: NIAID (click here). Professor Daniel Janies (Charlotte’s Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics) and other […]