Viral ghosts and specimen hosts: pathogen detection in natural history museum collections

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• Maya Juman (Department of Veterinary Medicine)
• Monday 10 November 2025, 13:00-14:00
• Seminar Room 1, Department of History and Philosophy of Science.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact ma2019.

Natural history collections are a valuable but largely untapped resource for studying emerging infectious diseases across space, time, and host species. However, the detection of viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi in museum specimens is highly contingent on collection, preservation, and storage practices. In this seminar, I will discuss two case studies of retrospective viral discovery from my own research, including the detection of SARS -related coronaviruses and zoonotic poxviruses in archival bat and rodent tissues, respectively. In doing so, I will also explore the downstream implications of political and historical collecting context for data retrieval from museum specimens.

This talk is part of the Cabinet of Natural History series.

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