Thematic Workshop: Pandemic Preparedness & Biosecurity

UC National Laboratories Fees Research Program

Thematic Workshop: Pandemic Preparedness & Biosecurity

Dear Colleagues:

As you may have already seen, UCOP’s Laboratory Fees Research Program has released this year’s Collaborative Research and Training Awards RFP. The RFP has identified three thematic areas of interest, and UC campuses are organizing virtual workshops to discuss compelling research directions and to permit potential collaborators to make connections and build research teams. Attendance is open to participants from all UC campuses and the three UC national laboratories.

The workshop on Pandemic Preparedness & Biosecurity (PPB), organized by UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UCSC, will focus on research at the intersection of biological processes and biosecurity aimed at preventing or mitigating emergent threats to human health, protecting ecological systems, and addressing the societal impacts of biothreats and biorisks, including experimental and theoretical approaches; biological applications of advanced computing (simulations, big data analyses, sensor and measurement technologies); biological processes underlying pandemic emergence and other biorisks; research and analyses addressing social equity and/or health disparities; and other multidisciplinary approaches.

The agenda will include opportunities for lightning talks by researchers, brainstorming to identify strategic research areas, and networking to build potential teams.

The workshop will be conducted virtually on Zoom on the following dates:

Session I - April 28 1-5 pm

Session II - April 29 1-5 pm

Please fill the registration form to receive updates and zoom information: 

https://forms.gle/58JjtiyxF9vHY7zi7

We appreciate your prompt reply to the registration form, as we will use the information provided to finalize the agenda topics and build breakout rooms.

Please share this information with your UC System and National Lab colleagues who might be interested in participating in the workshop.

If you would like to start conversations ahead of the event, and for follow-up after the workshop, please join us in this Slack Workspace:

https://join.slack.com/t/lfrp-ppb/shared_invite/zt-p9a46o9g-rmWcesJLtQFH3Nb5LuKQKw

We are looking forward to a very productive discussion.

Best regards,

David Trinkle, UC Berkeley, dtrinkle@ucdavis.edu 

Paul Dodd, UC Davis, pdodd@ucdavis.edu

John MacMillan UC Santa Cruz, jomacmil@ucsc.edu 

Kristin Balder-Froid, LBNL, KHBalder-Froid@lbl.gov 

Nan Sauer, LANL, nsauer@lanl.gov 

Annie Kersting, LLNL, kersting1@llnl.gov 

Other useful links:

The UC Laboratory Fees Research Program: https://www.ucop.edu/research-initiatives/programs/lab-fees/index.html

The thematic workshops: https://www.ucop.edu/research-initiatives/programs/lab-fees/workshops.html