Eric Donaldson
 Eric Donaldson    (scientist) | |
|---|---|
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| Nationality | US |
| Alma mater | University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), Montana State University |
| Interests | • Ralph Baric • Zhengli Shi |
US bioscientist and co-author of the Ralph Baric & Zhengli Shi paper:"A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses. Also author of fiction book on a virus causing the first mass human extinction. | |
Eric F. Donaldson is a US bioscientist and co-author of the Ralph Baric & Zhengli Shi paper:"A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence". In addition he has co-authored a thriller on a virus causing the first mass human extinction.
Expertise
Per 2021, Donaldson is employed as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, working in the lab of Dr. Ralph Baric. He is funded by the NIAID to conduct a study looking at the viruses in bats and studying how viruses cross the species barrier to emerge into new populations.
In addition, he is working with Dr. Baric to resurrect bat coronaviruses to determine the cross species transmission potential of a variety of novel coronaviruses identified in bats. He is also funded as a Gillings Innovative Lab through the Gillings School of Global Public Health to do a norovirus evolution study looking at the different genogroups and genotypes of this virus to determine how this virus persists in human populations; and using structural bioinformatics and evolution to guide computational design of candidate vaccine strains.[1]
Bioterrorism SciFi Thriller
Donaldson is co-author of the bioterrorism thriller Seventh Extinction: The Genesis Project.
The blurb for his book reads[2]: "Dr. Victor Kraus labored tirelessly as a wildlife ecologist, passionately striving to use science and reformed policies to curtail the human activities driving global warming and fueling the sixth mass extinction. When Victor realized that nothing would stop the number of species being lost to human greed and overconsumption, he resorted to using the only weapon left in his arsenal: the first mass human extinction. A highly lethal engineered virus was developed and disseminated around the world to reduce the human population to one billion people. As the viral apocalypse detonated across the globe, the virus destroyed billions of lives and delivered fear and chaos to every corner of the earth. With the pandemic running rampant, a Montana virologist working on a vaccine recruited an unlikely group of friends to help him hunt down an increasingly brazen Victor, stop the virus, and save what is left of humankind."
