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Project title

WildHealth: from wildlife monitoring to preventing and mitigating the spread of zoonotic diseases and drug-resistance

Primary Funding Agency

Irish Research Council

Co-Funding Organisation(s)

Environmental Protection Agency - Health Research Board

Lead Organisation

Irish Research Council (UCD)

Lead Applicant

Frederic Touzalin

Project Abstract

The emergence of Covid-19, like other recently emerged infectious diseases, is suspected to be a zoonosis, originating from bats. Its consequences on public health highlight the importance of maintaining active epidemiological monitoring of wildlife, before these diseases emerge, and not after. However, such surveys are challenging due to the diversity of hosts and pathogens, their complex interactions in natural ecosystems, rendering it difficult to identify the set of conditions that facilitates pathogen emergence and drives drug-resistance genes. Moreover, most of our knowledge in this area has come from the study of mice, rats, bacteria and yeast. As most wildlife are non-model species, this is a major obstacle to studying their mechanisms of health maintenance. The recent availability of full genomes in many wild species opens a new avenue for understanding wildlife molecular regulatory systems. In this project, we take advantage of a long-term mark-recapture study and a newly generated reference genome of an insectivorous bat (Myotis myotis), where we know 1. Excellence each individual and their life history. We will generate a gene expression profile for each wild bat and use state-of-the-art molecular biology to identify the pathogens present to understand the interplay between bat immune response and stress due to microbial burden, environmental and human pressures. To achieve this goal, we will generate new data using noninvasive sampling to uncover the viral and bacterial diversity in these bats and how their immune system responds. Then, using state-of-the-art machine learning approaches, we will uncover the link between bat gene expression and all the stressors they face, identifying the conditions that favour pathogen circulation and dynamics, which can lead to an infection emergency. WildHealth will substantially increase our knowledge of wildlife pathogens, the immune mechanisms of bats and will decipher the drivers of emerging zoonotic diseases, helping us avoid future public health crises.

Grant Approved

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Research Hub

Healthy Environment

Research Theme

n/a

Start Date

03/04/2023

Initial Projected Completion Date

02/04/2026