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New approach to understanding historical disease outbreaks

Alexander Herbig receives ERC Synergy Grant to study the complex influences of genetics, environment, society and climate on disease outcomes

The ERC-funded project "EUROpest", led by Alexander Herbig from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig together with Adam Izdebski (University of Warsaw), Timothy Newfield (Georgetown University, Washington) and Elena Xoplaki (Justus Liebig University Giessen), proposes a novel approach to disease research. Focusing on the Black Death and subsequent disease outbreaks, the project will examine the influences of genetics, environment, society and climate on disease outcomes. Historical European regions will be analysed as dynamic complex networks, integrating these aspects. Using a variety of research methods, including the study of ancient pollen, climate history and archaeogenetic information, the team aims to analyse the spread and impact of past diseases. Using data from a wide range of sources, from historical records to tax returns, the researchers aim to understand the complexity of disease outbreaks and potentially improve future pandemic preparedness.

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© Anna Schroll

Today we observe that pathogens such as the SARS-CoV-2 virus show differences in how common, how severe and how deadly they are, depending on factors such as the environment, society, climate and the disease itself. A recent study has shown that the Black Death that swept through Europe centuries ago showed similar variations, challenging the traditional belief that diseases affect everyone in the same way. The ERC-funded project EUROpest aims to study diseases in the light of all these factors.

The team behind EUROpest uses a combination of ecological, biological, and social approaches to study historical disease. They view historical European regions as social-ecological systems - a concept that sees these regions as complex networks of human and non-human participants that are constantly changing as a result of influences from around and within them. "We believe that disease-causing agents, or pathogens, play an important role in these systems and have the capacity to dramatically alter their functioning“, says Alexander Herbig, research group leader in the Department of Archaeogenetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. "However, the effect a pathogen can have on a system depends not only on its own nature, but also on how it interacts with the other elements in the system“.

Multidisciplinary approach to disease research

EUROpest aims to replace simplistic models of disease with a more comprehensive approach that takes into account environmental, biological and social aspects. The team will use a variety of approaches, including the study of ancient pollen, climate history, genetic information from archaeological sites, and more. The aim is to gain a detailed understanding of historical disease outbreaks. They plan to take into account various factors such as diet, religious structure, political stability, and economic changes, all of which can influence the spread and impact of a disease. The research will cover a wide range of geographical regions in Europe to reflect the continent's cultural and geographical diversity. It will also examine how changes in landscape and climate have a significant impact on how diseases spread within these human-environment systems.

In addition, EUROpest will study the health environments of past societies, focusing on three key areas: the pathogens that caused outbreaks, other disease-causing pathogens that were present, and the frequency of subsequent outbreaks. They will draw this information from a variety of sources, including historical texts, cultural artifacts, church records, tax information, and others. One of the biggest challenges the project expects to face is the integration of data from different fields, which they plan to tackle using advanced machine learning and computational analysis tools. "One goal of EUROpest is to gain a better understanding of how different factors interact to influence disease outbreaks in the past. Another is its potential contribution to our understanding of future pandemics," summarizes Herbig. "By learning from the past, we can develop a more detailed and realistic picture of future disease outbreaks. This, in turn, can inform policy decisions and strategies to manage future pandemics more effectively".

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Alexander Herbig received his Ph.D. in Bioinformatics from the University of Tübingen in 2015. He then held a postdoctoral position at the Institute of Archaeological Sciences (Tübingen), specializing on studying ancient disease. Since 2015, Herbig has been a research group leader in the Department of Archaeogenetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, where he and his team develop and apply computational tools in the field of pathogenomics.

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The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the award of 57 Synergy Grants. The funding - totalling 571 million € - supports teams of two to four outstanding researchers. SyG-funded projects should lead to discoveries at the boundaries between established disciplines and lead to substantial progress at the frontiers of knowledge. This includes, for example, the development of novel research methods and technologies as well as innovative approaches. A convincing synergistic combination of expertise and experience among the researchers involved is crucial to demonstrating the feasibility and scientific impact of the projects proposed.
 

Contact:

Dr. Alexander Herbig
Group Leader, Computational Pathogenomics
Department of Archaeogenetics
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig
alexander_herbig@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de

Sandra Jacob
Press Officer
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig
+49 341 3550-122
jacob@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de