A team of scientists including biochemistry professors Beth Stadtmueller and Nicholas Wu, chemistry professors Wilfred van der Donk and Angad Mehta, as well as Jenna Guthmiller, assistant professor of immunology and microbiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, will be part of the larger Emerging Pathogens Initiative at the institute. They will be focused on influenza viruses in aquatic birds, specifically ducks, and the antibody response that prevents severe illness. The hope is that they can eventually “engineer and evolve these antibody sequences to make human antibodies.”
The research could help prevent future avian influenza outbreaks.
You can read more about the study on the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology website.