iROC: SARS CoV-2 Virus, the COVID 19 Pandemic, and Vaccination

Please join us for a special evening edition of our iROC seminar series on Wednesday, April 7, at 7:00 p.m. when members of the MSMC science and math faculty present on the very timely and important topic of SARS CoV-2 Virus, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and Vaccination.  Speakers will be Evan Merkhofer, PhD, Associate Professor of Biology, Division of Natural Sciences; Christina Alvey, PhD, Assistant Professor of Mathematics & Information Technology, Division of Math & IT; and James Moran, PhD, Associate Professor of Biology, Division of Natural Sciences. This event will also have a Q&A portion, providing ample opportunity to ask questions about COVID-19.

The SARS CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 global pandemic is among the newest members of a family of coronaviruses that cause upper-respiratory tract infections in animals and humans. Most coronaviruses cause mild or moderate illness in humans; however, three of them cause significant and potentially fatal disease. SARS CoV-2 is thought to have emerged from an animal reservoir in China in December 2019 and was declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020 by the World Health Organization. Today, the virus has caused well over 120 million cases of infection worldwide and has claimed more than 2.5 million lives. As we enter into the second year of this pandemic, hopes for a return to normalcy in the US hinge on the mass distribution and efficacy of three vaccines that have received Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. Drawing on their expertise within their respective disciplines, Drs. Merkhofer, Alvey, and Moran will discuss the biology of coronaviruses and their infectiousness in humans. They will examine the characteristics of the COVID-19 pandemic using mathematical models in comparison to other global outbreaks. And finally, they will introduce the three vaccines currently in use and discuss their predicted efficacy in protecting against SARS CoV-2 and some of the known emerging variants. 

Dr. Evan Merkhofer holds a BS degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Gettysburg College, as well as a PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Following a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of California, San Diego, Dr. Merkhofer joined the Mount in 2014, where he is currently an Associate Professor of Biology. Dr. Merkhofer’s research current research involves studying the regulation of pre-mRNA splicing in gene expression, as well as annotation of viral and eukaryotic genomes.

Dr. Christina Alvey has served as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Mount Saint Mary College since 2015. She earned a BS in Mathematics and Actuarial Science from North Central College in Illinois, and a PhD in Mathematics from Purdue University. Her current research investigates mathematical models in biology and epidemiology, as well as current trends and developments in the field of mathematics education.

Dr. James Moran graduated from SUNY Geneseo with a bachelor of science in biochemistry and received a PhD in microbiology and immunology from the University of Rochester. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the SPIRE Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which included a one-year appointment as visiting Assistant Professor of Biology at UNC-Pembroke. Dr. Moran joined Mount Saint Mary College in 2008 and is currently an Associate Professor of Biology. His current research explores the immunological safety of the blood substitute OxyVita produced by the local biotech company OXYVITA Inc.

This event is approved for FYE Academic Success.