Ben Neuman, PhD, Professor of Biology, Head of Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, Texarkana, "Life in a sea of corona-like viruses"
Dr. Neuman in his talk covered the big family of Corona and Corona-like viruses. Starting from γ-CoV which can be found in birds, whales and dolphins, over δ-CoV which has chosen pigs as hosts over the dangerous β-CoV common in bats and rodents he moves on to nidoviruses and nido-like viruses. He gives insight into the research of identifying the relationship between the different families and especially points out the importance of comparing their genome in identifying fundamental parts and common roots.
