Disease ecologist Bridget Barker investigates Valley Fever, a potentially deadly disease spreading across the Southwest
To her colleagues, she’s become known as “the Queen of Cocci” because she’s cultivated her specialty studying the pathogens Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii (cocci for short), which cause the disease Coccidioidomycosis, better known as Valley Fever. Associate Professor Bridget… Read more
Teacher and scholar Bridget Barker explores the environmental sources of fungal pathogens to prevent exposure and infection.
Associate Professor Bridget Barker of NAU’s Pathogen and Microbiome Institute first became fascinated with plants, starting her journey studying botany. “I was really interested in plant pathology, and I’ve always… Read more
Could the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine reawaken previous antibody responses and point the way to a universal coronavirus vaccine? A new analysis of the antibody response to a COVID-19 vaccine suggests the immune system’s history with other coronaviruses, including those behind the common cold, shapes the patient’s response, according to a study published… Read more
Although only recently recognized as an issue in wildlife ecology, snake fungal disease (SFD) is of emerging concern in the U.S., with parallels among other better-known wildlife fungal diseases such as white-nose syndrome in bats. SFD can be deadly to snakes, and even in milder cases disrupts an… Read more
C. Todd French, assistant professor of biology and leader of Northern Arizona University’s new COVID-19 Testing Service Center (CTSC), is working with scientists at Vault Pharma, an emerging biotechnology company, to test candidate vaccines against the novel coronavirus. Through a multi-institutional public-private partnership linking the company with UCLA, NAU and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, French is… Read more
One of the most challenging aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the lack of testing needed to detect and trace infections—and without adequate testing, government officials do not have the data they need to make the best possible decisions in the interest of public health.
In addition to being in short supply,… Read more