Genome Sequencing and Analysis Program

When Ebola Zaire swept across West Africa in early 2014, a research team led by Broad Institute member Pardis Sabeti worked with collaborators from Sierra Leone and around the world to collect samples, rapidly sequence genomes, and share data in order to accelerate the outbreak response effort.

Between 2013 and 2015, an outbreak of Ebola virus killed more than 11,000 people. Broad Institute researchers quickly deployed real-time sequencing efforts that confirmed that the virus was primarily spreading through human-to-human contact rather than between animals and humans and that the viral genome was mutating. This work had a profound impact on how public health officials diagnosed the disease and developed strategies to contain it.

By all accounts, Pope Gregory I was quite the innovator. Along with his many liturgical accomplishments, he’s credited (somewhat apocryphally) with popularizing Gregorian chant, coining the phrase ‘bless you’ after someone sneezes, and perhaps, most unwittingly, creating one of the best experimental models for studying the evolution of domesticated animals.