Abstract:  

I started my research on bat-borne viruses in 1994. In the last three decades, we have had multiple zoonotic diseases outbreaks caused by bat-borne viruses from Hendra Nipah, SARS to MERS, Ebola and COVID-19.  Bats are now known as one of, if not, the most important virus reservoirs. Bats are also the longest living mammal relative to body size. In this presentation, I will share my journey and lessons learnt from studying bat viruses and bat immunology in the context of pandemic preparedness and translating “bat knowledge” into improving human health. this seminar will be a mix of science, philosophy and personal reflections.

Bio:  

Linfa Wang is a professor of the Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases at Duke-NUS Medical School, and the inaugural executive director of PREPARE. He is an international leader in the field of emerging zoonotic viruses and virus-host interaction. He played a key role in identification of bats as the natural host of SARS-like viruses. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he has served/is serving on multiple WHO committees for COVID-19, including the WHO IHR Emergency Committee. Prof Wang has more than 500 scientific publications, including papers in Cell, Nature, Science, NEJM and Lancet. Prof Wang was elected to the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2010, the American Academy of Microbiology in 2021, the Australian Academy of Science in 2023 and the Singapore National Academy of Science in 2024. He received the Singapore President Science Award in 2021.