People, Parasites, and Plagues

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Diego Huet, an associate professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Georgia, to explore Toxoplasma gondii. It's often called the world’s most successful parasite.
Infecting up to a third of the global population, Toxoplasma is both incredibly common and largely invisible. Dr. Huet breaks down how it spreads, why most people never know they have it, and how it can persist in the body for life by forming dormant cysts.
We also dive into the parasite’s surprisingly complex biology, from its unusual ATP synthase (with nearly double the components found in humans) to the bigger evolutionary questions behind why it works the way it does. Along the way, we explore how scientists use Toxoplasma as a model to better understand other parasites, and how these differences could lead to more targeted treatments in the future.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Nancy Manley, Director of the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. Before ASU, she spent over 20 years at the University of Georgia, where she served as Head of the Department of Genetics and a Distinguished Research Professor studying the thymus.
We explore one of the body’s most overlooked yet essential organs, the thymus, and how it builds and shapes the immune system over time. Dr. Manley breaks down why this organ is far more dynamic than most people realize, and why its complexity makes it so challenging to study.
From immune development to aging and disease, this conversation highlights how much we still don’t understand, and why it matters.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Justin Bahl, a UGA Professor of Epidemology and Biostatistics. David and Kim explore how modern epidemiology uses genomic data and statistics to track the spread of infectious diseases.
From studying fungi on palm leaves across Asia and Australia to analyzing viral genomes during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, Dr. Bahl shares how global field experience and biostatistical tools come together to reveal how pathogens move through populations.
We discuss molecular epidemiology, the importance of metadata, and how real-time data sharing transformed outbreak investigations during pandemics like H1N1 and COVID-19.

The hosts sit down with Dr. Julie Fox, Chief of the Emerging Virus Immunity Unit at NIAID, National Institutes of Health, to explore the science of alphavirus immunity and what antibodies really do in the context of alphavirus infection.
From chikungunya virus and its debilitating joint disease to broader mosquito-borne alphaviruses, Dr. Fox explains why these viruses are powerful models for studying immune protection. We move beyond the traditional view of antibodies as simple neutralizers and examine Fc-mediated effector functions, viral escape, and how mechanistic immunology informs the design of more durable vaccines and antibody therapies.
Dr. Fox also shares her path into government research, what it takes to launch a lab at NIH, and the training programs available for graduate students and aspiring biologists interested in infectious disease research.

Parasitoid wasps are some of the most successful organisms on Earth, even if most of us never notice them.
In this episode, Dr. Michael Strand from the UGA Department of Entomology takes us inside the hidden world of parasitoid wasps. These insects lay their eggs in other insects and rely on domesticated viruses to suppress host immune systems and control development. We explore how these virus–wasp partnerships evolved over millions of years, why they have made parasitoid wasps incredibly diverse, and how their biology influences ecosystems and agricultural pest control.
From evolutionary arms races to real-world applications, this episode reveals a biological battle happening all around us, right under our noses.