Hello VectorBiters,
Two meetings of interest have been brought to our attention. One in the USA and one in the UK (how appropriate).
The Ecoinformatics working group has been set up. If you are a VectorBiTE member and interested in joining this group, please go ahead! We are currently working on a draft data sheet template for VecDyn, which we will then make available for VectorBiTE members to give feedback on. Then, after a revision or two, we should be ready to start assembling vector presence-absence and abundance data.
VecTrait will follow soon after.
Disseminating our work to the public is an important component of scientific research. Scientific findings in scientific journals have little impact until that information is shared through an accessible medium. One way to make our research more accessible is by publishing in open access journals and also by translating scientific jargon into language that can be understood by the public, either by teaching, blogging or doing outreach. Penn State’s newly launched website on infectious diseases is a venue where scientists can participate in all three. The website, Epidemics, is affiliated with Penn State’s massive online open course (MOOC) offered through Coursera. The MOOC has generated over 90,000 visitors in the past three years, from 190 countries. The success of the MOOC has motivated researchers at Penn State to create a website designed as a resource for the public to learn more about infectious disease research, either in conjunction with taking the online course or as a general online reference for infectious disease-related information. In order for the website to be successful, we are looking for scientists to contribute content. Content should be short and targeted to an audience of non-experts. We are looking for blog-style articles, videos and posts on the discussion forums. We can offer broad visibility and global reach for content generated and the benefit of having quantifiable impact for outreach (page views, downloads). If you are interested in writing for the Epidemics website, generating other forms of content or participating in the discussion forums, contact Matt Ferrari at mferrari@psu.edu. Have a broad reach with outreach.
VectorBiTE has received an email from experiment.com, for an opportunity for a grant on Zika Virus. We thought we would forward this email to the members and hopefully some of you can take advantage of this opportunity! The deadline, March 15th, is approaching fast and some of the slots are filled, so make sure you get your application in soon! For information we have attached the email that we received below.
Hello,
Vector borne diseases (VBDs) are caused by pathogens that depend on a third party (typically an arthropod) for transmission between hosts. These elegantly tuned systems are built on intimate interactions between pathogens, hosts, and these vectors. Continue reading “Introduction to VectorBiTE: vectors, disease, and forming a network”