Anchored by four core themes—Jump, Replicate, Spread, and Empower—the Pandemic Prediction and Prevention Destination Area (PPP DA) advances research through both focused inquiry and cross-cutting collaboration. While each theme forges its own path toward discovery, our design fosters the free flow of ideas within Virginia Tech and through partnerships that extend well beyond campus.
Jump
Goal: Create machine learning (ML) methods to predict mutations that will enable a virus to shift from an animal host and adapt to infect humans.
Team Members
- Jonathan Auguste, Entomology, virus ecology and pathogenesis
- Deb Bhattacharya, Computer Science (CS), protein structure modeling
- Luis Escobar, Fish and Wildlife Conservation, disease ecology and biogeography
- Anuj Karpatne, CS, knowledge-guided ML
- X. J. Meng, Biomedical Science and Pathobiology (BSP), virology
- T. M. Murali, CS, computational biology
Replicate
Goal: Use organoid engineering to test human susceptibility to viruses with pandemic potential and understand the life cycle of a virus to devise ways to interrupt its replication.
Team Members
- Sanket Deshmukh, Chemical Engineering, multiscale modeling and integrated ML
- Kylene Kehn-Hall, BSP, virology and antiviral discovery
- Padma Rajagopalan, Chemical Engineering, tissue engineering and 3D organoid models
- Webster Santos, Chemistry, drug discovery and design
- Paul Skolnik, Virginia Tech-Carilion School of Medicine, infectious disease and clinical trials
- James Weger-Lucarelli, BSP, viral evolution and genetics
Spread
Goal: Develop models to predict how a virus spreads from one person to another and across populations with the goal of devising methods to prevent transmission.
Team Members
- Lauren Childs, Mathematics, mathematical modeling of infectious disease dynamics
- Navid Ghaffarzadegan, Industrial and Systems Engineering, epidemic modeling, system dynamics modeling, simulation-based policy analysis
- Linsey Marr, Civil and Environmental Engineering, virus transport and fate in the environment
- Naren Ramakrishnan, Computer Science, data science and applied ML
Empower
Goal: Ethically engage vulnerable communities to equitably shape and effectively communicate pandemic science.
Team Members
- Julie Gerdes, English, infectious disease/outbreak communication
- Kathy Hosig, Population Health Sciences, community-based participatory research
- Lisa M. Lee, Population Health Sciences and Division of Scholarly Integrity and Research Compliance, bioethics
- Patricia Raun, School of Performing Arts, Center for Communicating Science director.
