Global Guardians
Not all superheroes wear capes. Some don lab coats and goggles as they use their scholarly powers to identify new ways to predict and thwart the threat of planet-wide pandemics. An interdisciplinary team of UNC Charlotte researchers — who like movie superheroes possess an extraordinary ability to make the world a better place — are combining knowledge and expertise so future widespread outbreaks of communicable disease are never again a surprise or feared unmanageable.
“Science is a bit strange,” said Dan Janies, the University’s Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor of Bioinformatics and Genomics. “To address the real problems that affect the world, you sometimes have to back up, look at the bigger picture and borrow knowledge from specialties other than your own.”