Page 49 - ICGES Libro de Resúmenes MAC

Resumen de Conferencias Internacionales (CI)

THE FUTURE OF NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS:
CI­14 INVESTING IN PRIMARY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR
FUTURE RESEARCH IN PATHOBIOLOGY

Joseph A. Cook

Museum of Southwestern Biology and Department of Biology, University of New
Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 USA

Natural history collections and associated frozen biorepositories are tremendous
assets for research in pathobiology. Originally developed for studies focused on
natural history and biodiversity discovery, advancements in preservation
techniques (ultrafrozen tissues) and technologies (e.g., genomics, viromics,
stable isotopes chemical ecology) now take advantage of the taxonomic,
temporal and spatial coverage represented by museum collections infrastructure.
New approaches allow critical assessment of important societal questions,
especially those related to public health and emerging pathogens and
biodiversity loss due to changing environmental conditions. At the same time,
specimen digitization has rapidly mobilized this biodiversity resource for
bioinformatic studies ranging from genome­level data to large­scale GIS­based
spatial assessments aimed at understanding how changing environmental
conditions are reshaping species distributions and the potential for pathogen
emergence. Significant opportunities (e.g., collaboration with ongoing monitoring
efforts) but also challenges (e.g., permitting and sustainability) remain to fully
integrate and exploit this resource by public health agencies. I highlight a long­
term collaboration between the Proyecto Hantavirus of the Instituto
Conmemorativo Gorgas and the Museum of Southwestern Biology. Now is an
opportune time to evaluate how we can expand existing collections and the
methods we use to build that infrastructure to meet the demands of pathobiology.
A critical need exists for a comprehensive plan for sampling mammalian diversity
now to stimulate pathogen research in the future.

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