Benjamin Kopek, Associate Professor of Biology, recently received a $19,790 award from the Fulbright Scholar Program for a six-month fellowship at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France. The project is titled Preventing the Next Viral Pandemic by Deciphering Antiviral Immunity in Insect Vectors.
The overall objective of this research project is to improve human health by identifying the unique features of the insect immune system that allows insects to survive infection with a pathogenic human virus. Understanding the relationship between virus infection and insect immune system could allow one to control insect to human transmission of these pathogens, resulting in hundreds of thousands of lives (mostly children) saved each year. This project will be carried out in the laboratory of Carla Saleh, Ph.D., a premier virology researcher and laboratory at the Institut Pastuer.
Congratulations, Ben, on your new award!