Institute for Infectious & Zoonotic Diseases
More than three-quarters of emerging infectious diseases that affect humans are zoonotic. In the past two decades, outbreaks of Ebola, Zika, swine influenza, avian influenza, West Nile virus, SARS CoV-2 — and others — have occurred around the world. Other established infections, such as malaria and dengue, continue to be a global concern.
The emergence of antibiotic resistance to infections — particularly in hospital settings — creates a public health blind spot, while emerging and re-emerging infectious zoonotic agents continue to grow at alarming speed.
our mission
Institute for Infectious & Zoonotic Diseases works to integrate the core values of One Health; expanding the research of infectious agents and to advancing our ability to react to new diseases — both locally and globally — for the benefit of populations and communities. We align our educational initiatives to support and develop the infectious disease workforce of tomorrow.
Why Penn Vet
We have one of the largest zoonotic disease programs in the nation, rooted in our extensive faculty network and distinctive geography. Penn Vet’s campus in Philadelphia neighbors the University of Pennsylvania’s twelve schools, including the medical and nursing schools, and the School of Arts and Sciences. Our New Bolton Center campus is surrounded by a region densely populated with dairy farms and agriculture. This topography brings Penn’s scientists together with incredible resources spurring cross-disciplinary collaboration to tackle monumental challenges, from chronic and fatal disease to biosecurity and antimicrobial stewardship, to climate change.
Penn Vet is a valuable partner to industry, specifically to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System, as well as to several leading regional and national laboratory networks and health commissions.
DIRECTOR, Institute for Infectious & Zoonotic Diseases
Christopher A. Hunter, PhD
Mindy Halikman Heyer Distinguished Professor of Pathobiology
Research focus
mRNA Initiative
Penn Vet’s mRNA Research Initiative will fast-track the development of veterinary mRNA-based vaccines and host-directed therapies.
Scientific findings from these basic studies will inform the project’s goal to develop veterinary vaccines, including a vaccine for avian influenza in poultry, and a vaccine for viral infections in swine.
Evolutionary researcH
Center for Host-Microbial Interactions
The Penn Vet Center for Host-Microbial Interactions (CHMI) is an interdisciplinary center that helps faculty leverage cutting-edge genomic approaches to understand how microbes (viruses, bacteria and parasites) influence animal health and disease. These so-called ‘host-microbial interactions’ represent an ongoing evolutionary arms-race between mammals and the microbial world we live in.
research focus
CREATE
Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) are among one of the greatest threats to animal and human health given that they are often impossible to treat with antibiotics. They can spread silently throughout veterinary hospitals while setting up environmental reservoirs and spread to animals and possibly people. The CREATE website aims to be a resource to veterinarians, veterinary hospital administrators, and veterinary laboratories to help prepare for, respond to, and appropriately detect CRE.
Research & Funding
Tools, Cores, & Labs
Symposium
Understanding the immune response to a persistent pathogen (link is external)
Penn Vet researchers show that the immune system can recognize and control the latent stage of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, a finding that can inform the study of latency in…
University of Pennsylvania Avian Influenza Experts Provide Briefing to Pennsylvania Policy Makers
As concerns about the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak continue to grow, experts from the University’s School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) and Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) visited…
University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine Leading Collaborative Effort Against Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
Since 2022, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has rapidly spread throughout the Americas and poses ongoing risks to wildlife, livestock, and human health. The current outbreak is notable for infecting…