Our research group is focused on various aspects of zoonoses, diseases transmissible between animals and humans. The goal of our research is to describe mechanisms standing behind introduction of novel pathogens from one animal species into another one (including humans). We are mainly focused on viruses but we work also on other zoonotic pathogens as bacteria and protozoa.
Our research includes all aspect of infection biology: field work at various research localities, bench work in the microbiological and genetic labs, and in silico data analysis and modeling. During our research we work on monitoring of viral pathogens circulating between wild living and domestic animals. To do that we employ various molecular, immunological, and microbiological methods including those suitable for pathogen in field detection. Further, we perform genetic analyses of detected pathogens and their hosts to understand their (co)evolution. Finally, we analyze obtained data to get the “panorama” picture of relationships between hosts and their pathogens.
The pathogens which we study are for example SARS-CoV-2, tick-borne encephalitis virus, canine parvovirus 2, yellow fever virus, Zika virus, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever orthonairovirus, Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes etc.