Dan Janies has advised on the animal origins and spread of SARS-CoV-1, MERS, SARS-CoV-2, other coronavirus strains, and variations within strains. Currently, he is working on the new variants of concern of SARS-CoV-2. Variant SARS-CoV-2 contain mutations that change how SARS-CoV-2 transmits and respond to treatment. Thus it is important to understand the origins, spread and predicted properties of new variants.
About Dan Janies, Ph.D.
Janies has served as a national principal investigator in the Tree of Life program of the National Science Foundation. His current awards include Department of Defense-sponsored work to develop visual analytic applications to understand the spread of pathogens. He has developed the theory and practice of mapping pathogen genetic data in concert with geography and host animals. His results are akin to weather maps for infectious diseases that allow public health scientists to visualize when and where pathogens jump from animals to humans and evolve to resist drugs. Janies has advised the White House, the Pentagon, the Interagency Risk Assessment Consortium and testified to both Houses of Congress on emerging infectious diseases.