Matt Koci, Ph.D. zooms in on the story of COVID-19. What is it? How did this start? Where did it come from?
In his podcast The Beginning of The Beginning, Matt zooms in on the story of COVID-19. What is it? How did this start? Where did it come from? As we’re still in the early phase of this pandemic, there’s still a lot we don’t know about this virus and about the disease. Much of this COVID-19 story remains to be written. How this story unfolds depends a lot on you. In the short-term, we all have a role to play in protecting those around us who are the most vulnerable. In the longer-term, as future leaders in North Carolina, the country, and the world, what role are you going to play to make sure we learn from the lessons of COVID-19 and are better prepared for future pandemics, and other Wicked Problems.
Matt Koci is a professor in the Prestage Department of Poultry Science, where his research, teaching, and outreach program is focused on understanding how the immune system recognizes, responds to, eliminates, and ultimately develops resistance to pathogens. In the classroom, he teaches courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. His teaching includes an undergraduate course that focuses on how our food and fiber production system, economics, politics, and society are interconnected -- and how disruptions to our food supply by infectious diseases can impact the whole system. At the graduate level, he teaches a course that compares disease resistance mechanisms (immune systems) from bacteria, to plants, to mammals. In addition to research and teaching, he is also passionate about science outreach and has developed several innovative K-12 STEM outreach programs.
Want to know more about viruses in general or coronaviruses specifically?
The long link between animal diseases and human diseases
How did this move around the world and what is it doing now?
Coronavirus: Incredible time-lapse shows hospital go up in days
Follow the evolution of the virus as it moves around the world
Top 20 Countries by Total Coronavirus Infections (January 15 to May 15)
Coronavirus Cases in the US, by State, COVID-19 Outbreak in the United States
What do we know about how much masks and social distancing help
Answers to COVID-19 related questions
If you want to keep up with what’s going on with COVID-19 and other plant and animal (humans are animals) diseases follow the Twitter account for Dr. Koci’s course on food system disease disasters @Agrosecurity411 where he is posting news and updates on the pandemic and research to stop it.