The Power of Viruses, for Good | Matthew Sullivan | TEDxOhioStateUniversity

Dr. Matthew Sullivan uses his knowledge as a professor of microbiology to explain the complexities of viruses in our world and how these viruses can be used for good. Dr. Matthew B. Sullivan studies how ‘nanoscale’ viruses impact Earth’s ecosystems. While his research has been oceans-focused, his lab has pioneered many methods and informatics advances needed to “see” viruses in natural environments. This has led to global maps of the ‘virosphere’ and illuminating ‘viral dark matter’, numerous approaches to link and explore virus-host interactions, and realizations that viruses not only kill their microbial hosts, but also manipulate them in myriad subtler ways. This ‘oceans toolkit’ has revolutionized the study of viruses in nature and is now being applied throughout the global oceans, as well as in soils and humans. Matthew earned his Ph.D. from MIT and WHOI in 2004, co-founded the UA Ecosystem Genomics Institute, and is recognized as a Moore Foundation Investigator, Kavli Frontiers in Science Fellow, and co-director of the Microbial Communities Program at OSU’s Infectious Disease Institute. Come explore the hidden world of viruses! This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx