When we think about viruses we tend to consider ones that afflict humans, such as those that cause influenza, HIV, and Ebola. Yet, vastly more viruses infect single-celled microbes. Diverse and abundant, microbes and the viruses that infect them are found in oceans, lakes, plants, soil, and animal-associated microbiomes.

In this talk, Georgia Tech Professor of Biological Sciences Joshua S. Weitz will discuss challenges and opportunities in investigating this "microscopic" form of disease and how the study of quantitative viral ecology may fundamentally transform human and environmental health.

About Joshua S. Weitz  

Joshua S. Weitz is a quantitative biologist with a background in physics. He directs a multidisciplinary research group whose primary mission is to understand how viruses transform the fate of cells, populations, and the environment.  Weitz collaborates with experimental groups to jointly explore the virus-microbe interface in a range of sites, including the North Pacific Ocean, Yellowstone Hot Springs, and in human-associated microbiomes.

Weitz received an AB in Physics from Princeton University in 1997 and a PhD in Physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2003. He was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University before joining Georgia Tech as an assistant professor of biology in 2007. He is currently a professor of biological sciences at Georgia Tech, where he also holds a courtesy appointment in the School of Physics. He is also the founding director of the Georgia Tech's interdisciplinary PhD in Quantitative Biosciences. 

Weitz recently authored the book Quantitative Viral Ecology(Princeton University Press, 2015). He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles on topics ranging from viral ecology, to infectious disease dynamics, to the structure of complex networks. He has received numerous awards for his research, including a Burroughs Wellcome Career Award at the Scientific Interface in 2007. He is currently a Simons Foundation Investigator on Ocean Processes and Ecology.

About the Event

This event is a production of the Atlanta Science Tavern. It is free and open to the public, although contributions are welcome to help defray costs. Seating is on a first-come basis. Reservations are not required to attend. Attendees gather for dinner at 7:00 pm. The evening's presentation gets under way at around 7:45 pm.