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Principal Investigator: Daniel Blanco-Melo
Organization: FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER CENTER
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $508,951
Funding agency: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Project Summary
Viruses have imposed a significant global burden of morbidity and mortality for millennia. Just in the last
century, highly pathogenic RNA viruses such as influenza A, HIV and SARS-CoV-2 resulted in devastating
pandemics that directly impacted millions of individuals and altered socioeconomic dynamics worldwide.
Fueled by major advances in sequencing during the last decades, the emerging field of archeovirology has
begun identifying viruses that severely impacted humans prior to the 20th century. To this day, however, the
pathogens responsible for important past epidemics are still unknown and there are significant gaps remaining
in the evolutionary history of certain viral families, especially for RNA viruses. Using a highly collaborative and
innovative approach to overcome intrinsic limitations in the identification of viral genomes from human remains,
this proposal will uncover the viral diversity that existed during periods of notable epidemic outbreaks and
expand our knowledge of the origins and evolution of highly pathogenic viruses. In particular, this proposal
seeks to identify and characterize genomes from centuries-old RNA viruses, a goal that so far has remained
elusive. Using well-established ancient DNA techniques, forensic proteomics, and improved RNA isolation
methodologies, our team will reconstruct viral genomes from human remains of deadly epidemics in early
colonial Mexico and preserved lung specimens from pathology collections corresponding to the industrial
revolution in Great Britain. Guided by archeological and historical documentation in these two distinct historical
contexts, this work will identify viruses that existed in the past ~500 years, study their origin and evolutionary
relationships to modern viruses, and characterize the evolution of viral protein function in relation to their
human hosts. Together, this proposal will generate a comprehensive characterization of the properties of past
viral infections that will not only lead to the identification of viruses responsible for epidemics that profoundly
altered human history but will also uncover evolutionary adaptations between past and present viruses and
define the origins of highly pathogenic RNA viruses, providing key molecular information to prepare against the
(re)emergence of highly virulent viruses in the future.
Terms: <2019 novel corona virus><2019 novel coronavirus><2019-nCoV><AIDS Virus><Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Virus><Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Virus><Acute Poliomyelitis><Address><Airway infections><British Isles><COVID-19 virus><COVID19 virus><Calibration><Causality><Cell Body><Cells><CoV-2><CoV2><Collection><Complement><Complement Proteins><DNA><DNA Viruses><Deoxyribonucleic Acid><Development><Disease><Disease Outbreaks><Disorder><Documentation><Double-Stranded DNA><EBOV><Ebola virus><Ebola-like Viruses><Epidemic><Etiology><Evolution><Family><Forensic Medicine><Forensics><Future><Genome><Genomics><Goals><Great Britain><HIV><History><Human><Human Immunodeficiency Viruses><Immunology><Individual><Industrialization><Influenza A><Influenza A virus><Influenza Viruses Type A><Influenzavirus A><Knowledge><LAV-HTLV-III><Lead><Life Cycle><Life Cycle Stages><Link><Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus><Measles><Medical><Methodology><Mexico><Modeling><Modern Man><Modernization><Molecular><Morbidity><Morbidity - disease rate><Museums><Non-Polyadenylated RNA><Orthomyxovirus Type A><Outbreaks><Paleontology><Pathogenesis><Pathogenicity><Pathology><Pb element><Polio><Poliomyelitis><Population><Position><Positioning Attribute><Preventative strategy><Prevention strategy><Preventive strategy><Property><Proteomics><Protocol><Protocols documentation><RNA><RNA Gene Products><RNA Viruses><Recording of previous events><Records><Research><Research Specimen><Respiratory Infections><Respiratory Tract Infections><Ribonucleic Acid><Rubeola><SARS corona virus 2><SARS-CO-V2><SARS-COVID-2><SARS-CoV-2><SARS-CoV2><SARS-associated corona virus 2><SARS-associated coronavirus 2><SARS-coronavirus-2><SARS-related corona virus 2><SARS-related coronavirus 2><SARSCoV2><Sampling><Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome CoV 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Corona Virus 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Coronavirus 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-associated coronavirus 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-related coronavirus 2><Severe acute respiratory syndrome associated corona virus 2><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2><Severe acute respiratory syndrome related corona virus 2><Smallpox><Spain><Specimen><Symptoms><Techniques><Transmission><Type A Influenza><Variant><Variation><Variola><Viral><Viral Diseases><Viral Gene Products><Viral Gene Proteins><Viral Genes><Viral Genome><Viral Proteins><Virulent><Virus><Virus Diseases><Virus-HIV><Work><Wuhan coronavirus><career><causation><clinical significance><clinically significant><complementation><coronavirus disease 2019 virus><coronavirus disease-19 virus><developmental><disease causation><ds-DNA><dsDNA><hCoV19><heavy metal Pb><heavy metal lead><histories><human pathogen><identification of viruses><improved><innovate><innovation><innovative><life course><lung preservation><microbes genome><microbial genome><molecular clock><morbilli><mortality><multidisciplinary><nCoV2><new approaches><novel approaches><novel strategies><novel strategy><paleontological applications><pandemic><pandemic disease><past epidemic><pathogen><pathogenic virus><post-doctoral training><postdoctoral training><previous epidemic><prior epidemic><protein function><reconstruction><skills><small pox><socio-economic><socio-economically><socioeconomically><socioeconomics><symptomatology><synergism><tech development><technology development><tissue tropism><transmission process><variola major><viral RNA><viral disease outbreak><viral epidemic><viral infection><viral outbreak><viral pandemic><viral pathogen><virology><virus RNA><virus disease outbreak><virus genome><virus identification><virus infection><virus pathogen><virus protein><virus-induced disease>