Shi Zhengli: "Bat Woman" Flies to Investigate the Coronavirus
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| Dr. Shi Zhengli has contributed significantly to the global effort investigating COVID-19. |
I spent the turn of the decade in Asia: specifically, Vietnam, traveling from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City in a little over a week. One of my experiences involved touring Ha Long Bay by boat—as my family and I entered a cave, we heard clicking and squeaking from above us. "What's that sound?" my father asked.
"Bats," said our tour guide.
I shot my gaze to the ceiling of the cave. It was far too dark for me to see anything, so I returned my attention to eye level as we rowed out of the cave. Little did I know that in the following weeks, Dr. Shi Zhengli would be on her heels racing to research a virus that started with these very creatures.
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Dr. Shi, virologist and researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), has been researching wildlife-borne viruses for 16 years. She studied at Wuhan University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences through WIV and received her Ph.D. in France at Montpellier University II.
Throughout her career, Shi has hiked across China to explore the dark caves that bats called home, earning herself the nickname "Bat Woman." After arming herself with her wits and layers of protective gear, she would enter the caves to collect samples. She and her team trapped bats to collect blood and saliva samples and droppings for analysis.
Her years and years of work cumulated into one of the world's largest databases of bat-related viruses. She is certain that these viruses will continue to spread. “We must find them before they find us," she said.
One of the bat-borne illnesses she has investigated is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Through thousands of samples, her team discovered that bats were at the root of the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak. SARS had jumped the species barrier between horseshoe bats and humans in 2002 and killed 800 people worldwide.
Mere days after my venture into Ha Long Bay's caves, Dr. Shi received a phone call a thousand miles away in Shanghai. It was the director of the WIV, alerting her of the novel coronavirus cropping up in patient samples. Immediately, Shi took the train straight to Wuhan to investigate.
Shi's first course of action was to isolate the virus in the patient samples. Her team then analyzed the genetic material through polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a powerful technique allowing scientists to replicate a single sample millions of times. This enables scientists to study the once-small sample in great detail.
Shi's team found that the majority of the samples matched the genetic sequences found in coronaviruses. Furthermore, they conducted full genome sequencing and antibody tests on the blood samples and watched the virus latch onto human lung cells in a Petri dish. The results of these analyses verified that a new virus had indeed caused the disease found in the Wuhan patients.
Shi's team was the first to link the virus to Yunnan fruit bats, whose droppings shared 96.2% of the genetic material. Her work, past and present, provided a powerful head start to scientists and researchers tackling the coronavirus.
Despite her contributions, Dr. Shi has become a target on social media. Angry skeptics have accused her of causing the very virus she has worked long, sleepless nights to investigate. They claimed that the virus had escaped from her laboratory in Wuhan to infect the public.
"I swear on my life," she responded, "[the virus] has nothing to do with our lab." She has adamantly shut down conspiracy theories linking her work to the outbreak.
Dr. Shi is currently uniting scientists across multiple disciplines to combat the coronavirus. Her work will continue to propel the global effort to hunt down COVID-19.
Throughout her career, Shi has hiked across China to explore the dark caves that bats called home, earning herself the nickname "Bat Woman." After arming herself with her wits and layers of protective gear, she would enter the caves to collect samples. She and her team trapped bats to collect blood and saliva samples and droppings for analysis.
Her years and years of work cumulated into one of the world's largest databases of bat-related viruses. She is certain that these viruses will continue to spread. “We must find them before they find us," she said.
One of the bat-borne illnesses she has investigated is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Through thousands of samples, her team discovered that bats were at the root of the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak. SARS had jumped the species barrier between horseshoe bats and humans in 2002 and killed 800 people worldwide.
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Mere days after my venture into Ha Long Bay's caves, Dr. Shi received a phone call a thousand miles away in Shanghai. It was the director of the WIV, alerting her of the novel coronavirus cropping up in patient samples. Immediately, Shi took the train straight to Wuhan to investigate.
Shi's first course of action was to isolate the virus in the patient samples. Her team then analyzed the genetic material through polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a powerful technique allowing scientists to replicate a single sample millions of times. This enables scientists to study the once-small sample in great detail.
Shi's team found that the majority of the samples matched the genetic sequences found in coronaviruses. Furthermore, they conducted full genome sequencing and antibody tests on the blood samples and watched the virus latch onto human lung cells in a Petri dish. The results of these analyses verified that a new virus had indeed caused the disease found in the Wuhan patients.
Shi's team was the first to link the virus to Yunnan fruit bats, whose droppings shared 96.2% of the genetic material. Her work, past and present, provided a powerful head start to scientists and researchers tackling the coronavirus.
Despite her contributions, Dr. Shi has become a target on social media. Angry skeptics have accused her of causing the very virus she has worked long, sleepless nights to investigate. They claimed that the virus had escaped from her laboratory in Wuhan to infect the public.
"I swear on my life," she responded, "[the virus] has nothing to do with our lab." She has adamantly shut down conspiracy theories linking her work to the outbreak.
Dr. Shi is currently uniting scientists across multiple disciplines to combat the coronavirus. Her work will continue to propel the global effort to hunt down COVID-19.
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