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Impact Award

Predictive Biology Hub for Human and Environmental Health

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News Grand Challenges Grants Grand Challenges 2.0 Impact Awards

Predictive Biology Hub for Human and Environmental Health

Grant Type: Impact Award
Topics: Public Health, Environment
Colleges Represented: CMNS, AGNR, BSOS, ENGR

Grand Challenges Grants

Summary

Across the globe, communities are facing existential threats to human health and environmental systems from reemerging and novel pathogens, climate change, and large-scale ecosystem disruption. These threats are shaped by dynamic and complex living systems. Confronting these threats requires the development and deployment of scalable technical solutions built on predictive models of cells, organisms, populations, and ecosystems.

The goal of this initiative is to build the next-generation of predictive tools to mitigate pandemics, improve human health, and sustain vital ecosystems. The project will begin in year one by addressing the global ecology of infectious disease to predict the global impact of pathogens including anthrax, an infectious, spore-forming bacteria of pandemic potential that spreads between animals and humans, and cyanophages, marine viral pathogens that cause major mortality in blue-green algae which provide over half the oxygen we breathe. These viral infections have substantial impacts in open and coastal regions, including the Chesapeake Bay. In year two, the team will prioritize collective computation across scales by developing predictive brain-network models to guide future individualized interventions for depression, chronic pain, and related disorders. In year three, the team will prioritize AI-powered design to advance miniaturization for bioinspired innovations.

This initiative will deliver research discoveries, translate these discoveries into impact with a global network of partners, and train the next generation of scholars to support human and environmental health. The team will make its findings available through policy forum dialogues, white papers, public testimony, and the development of public-facing information tools.

Team Members:

Joshua Weitz headshot PI: Joshua Weitz

Professor and Clark Leadership Chair in Data Analytics, Department of Biology

CMNS Evan Economo headshot Co-PI: Evan Economo

Professor and Chair, Department of Entomology

AGNR Meredith Gore headshot Co-PI: Meredith Gore

Professor and Research Director, Department of Geographical Sciences

BSOS William Fagan headshot Co-PI: William Fagan

Distinguished University Professor, Department of Biology

CMNS Nikolas Francis headshot Co-PI: Nikolas Francis

Assistant Professor, Brain and Behavior Institute, Department of Biology

CMNS Michelle Girvan headshot Co-PI: Michelle Girvan

Professor, Department of Physics

CMNS Philip Johnson headshot Co-PI: Philip Johnson

Associate Professor, Department of Biology

CMNS Haizhao Yang headshot Co-PI: Haizhao Yang

Affiliate Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science

CMNS Nan Xu headshot Co-PI: Nan Xu

Assistant Professor, Fischell Department of Bioengineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Brain and Behavior Institute

ENGR