Infections transmitted by arthropods such as mosquitoes and ticks represent some of the most difficult and persistent problems facing public health and medicine. The Ebel Lab, as part of the CSU Center for Vector-borne Infectious Diseases, is mainly interested in arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses), such as West Nile, dengue, and Zika viruses. We exist to help find ways to make these types of infections less burdensome. Our research addresses several areas, including arbovirus population biology and evolution, mechanisms that permit mosquitoes to transmit arboviruses, mosquito immunity, and disease surveillance. Our currently funded projects focus on West Nile, dengue, Zika and chikungunya viruses, as well as the mosquitoes that transmit them. We are also involved in developing novel methods for detecting emerging viruses in resource-poor settings such as rural West Africa.
We take a multidisciplinary approach to science that combines classical virology, entomology, and molecular and computational biology. Central concepts that guide our work include the notion that arthropod-borne viruses, like other RNA viruses, form genetically complex populations within individual hosts, and that natural selection powerfully shapes which of these variants are most fit in a given environment. We are also active in local health initiatives that consist mainly of efforts to limit the impact of West Nile virus in Fort Collins and elsewhere on the great plains.
People
Lab Principal Investigator [PI]
Director, Center for Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases
Professor
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CBS Colorado covers the recent NIH funding to CSU to build a state-of-the-art bat research facility which will facilitate the breeding and research of bats.
Greg Ebel discusses how his lab’s history with arbovirus surveillance poised the team to respond to the early COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ebel Lab is part of the newly-awarded Verena (Viral Emergence Research Initiative) Biology Integration Institute, intent to discover more about the science of the host-virus network.