Advances in Immunology and Microbiology Seminar Series
About the event
Featuring research in the areas of:
Epidemiology | Infectious Disease | Disease Ecology | Drug Discovery | Virology |
Global Health | Vector-Borne Disease | Pathology
The Advances in Immunology & Microbiology seminar series is a weekly forum that brings together scientists from diverse fields and disciplines across the College of Veterinary Medicine to discuss research advances in the broad areas of immunology, microbiology, infectious diseases, and global health. Seminars feature student speakers from the Immunology & Infectious Disease (IID) doctoral program, IID-affiliated postdoctoral researchers and faculty, intramural speakers from across the university, and extramural speakers.
PRESENTER: Dr. Tamika Lunn, Assistant Professor, Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia.
TITLE: How Housing in Kenya is Shaping Human-Bat Coexistence and Patterns of Viral Transmission
ABSTRACT: We are conducting a multidisciplinary study in rural southern Kenya to investigate how virus shedding in free-tailed bat populations (family Molossidae), combined with their use of anthropogenic structures, influences virus exposure risk for humans and domestic animals. We have shown that the transition from traditional mud-walled, thatched-roof homes, to modern structures with attics and exposed beams, has expanded roosting opportunities for free-tailed bats, increasing colony size and frequency in the landscape. Our survey of 1.1k buildings found that modern structures were five times more likely to house bats, with nearly one in ten buildings showing signs of bat occupation. In interviews, residents reported living with bats year-around, and described daily contact with excrement, and yearly direct contact with bats. Our ongoing longitudinal study will integrate viral surveillance, bat movement (PIT) tracking, and -omics analyses to investigate viral diversity, stress responses, and immune function over space and time. By combining these field data with epidemiological models, our future aims are to understand transmission patterns and identify high-risk areas where human-bat-domestic animal interactions may facilitate viral spillover.