Apr 20, 2011
Beginning in 2010, a group of researchers began assessing an individual's risk of acquiring an infectious disease ("disease risk") and whether or not that risk can be determined by a handful of ecological traits of the host individual. They are also looking to see if other host species that are potential sources of infection play a role ("community context"). The experiments utilize aphids and grasses and a certain grass-specific virus as the model. The HREC greenhouse has been retrofitted to be aphid-proof" to allow the propagation of "virus-free" grasses.
