Grant: Canada Excellence Research Chairs

Climate change is causing extreme heating and altering the distribution of pathogens, while associated human activity and biodiversity loss are increasing human-animal contact. Infectious diseases will become more prevalent. Predicting their evolution, however, will help us get ahead in the arms race against new pandemics. During this era of alarming environmental change, UBC is establishing itself as an international lead on finding One Health solutions to major health challenges, including zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance, and the need for vaccines. The proposed CERC program will be internationally distinct, with the aim of harnessing evolution to better understand infection/immunity in a changing world. The UBC CERC in Evolutionary Dynamics of Host-Pathogen Interactions will principally use ‘evolution experiments’ in animal-pathogen models, as well as state-of-the-art genomics, computational analysis, and mathematical theory in a global change biology framework to expand our understanding of established and novel pathogen evolution. CERC research will test the impacts of warming on host susceptibility and pathogen evolution across animals. It will further explore pathogen evolution after host jumps and in populations with variable or waning immunity. This research has implications for predicting virulence, transmission, and the tempo of evolution as pathogens emerge or move to new areas with shifting climates. The CERC research program will be highly interdisciplinary with collaborations across UBC and beyond, spanning biodiversity, medicine, biochemistry, and public policy. The CERC will lead a research cluster to attract high-calibre faculty and trainees to address these challenges and meet the demand for innovative evolutionary analyses and approaches. Dr. Kayla King is exceptionally qualified given her stratospheric trajectory of impactful research, major funding and prizes, and global leadership in the evolution, ecology, and genomics of animal infection. Her unique expertise fills a gap in Canada. She will build new experimental and computational avenues for tackling ecologically and medically relevant pathogens. By recognising the importance of host-pathogen evolution — and interdependencies between environment, animals, and health — the CERC merges ST&I priorities in 'Healthy Canadians', 'Clean/Resource-Rich Canada', 'Technologically Advanced Canada', and 'Innovative and Resilient Communities' to transform disease control during climate change.