Scientists are using a menagerie of animals and AI to predict what the next pandemic could be. (via undarkmag)
None of this is easy, and the infrastructure needed for systematically studying and archiving data on these varied species is often far more complicated — and pricey — than it is for the ubiquitous mouse. But it’s worth the price, virologists and disease experts say, as are modern efforts to combine this ark of organisms with predictive, AI-driven computer models to help narrow the search for possible crossover points.
Toward that end, Carlson and other scientists are using predictive modeling and artificial intelligence to pinpoint specific genes in specific types of bats that could make the viruses they carry more or less likely to cross over. Their models include things like bat wingspan, diet, longevity, and much more. “The logic is that these traits are operating as a suite,” Han said.
When the scientists need to get an animal, they put on heavy leather gloves, reach up, and gently grab a bat.. “They don’t like you grabbing them, but they’re very manageable,” Schountz said. His lab studies bat immune systems, trying to figure out how the animals live with viruses without suffering from disease, and how those viruses then end up causing disease in humans. “We obtained our bats from a zoo, and that was 16 years ago,” he said.
“We started working on migratory insect-eating bats,” he added, “but again, the logistics of keeping insectivorous bats in captivity — it’s also really tricky because you have to have a lot of mealworms.” In Tony Schountz’s animal colony at Colorado State University, the bats go through an entire truckload of produce in a week or less.
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