Secret Science Club presents Microbiologist & Ebola Researcher Kartik Chandran, MONDAY, February 25, 8PM @ the Bell House, FREE!

Ebola is one of the most lethal viruses on the planet. Fifty to ninety percent of Ebola patients die once infected, and over 500 have succumbed in the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Microbiologist Kartik Chandran knows the Ebola virus well. He compares it to a clever thief that picks molecular locks, breaks into the body’s cells—and then wreaks havoc. And yet… despite Ebola's virulent nature, some untreated patients manage to fight off the infection and survive. Why?

By discovering exactly how Ebola breaks into cells in the first place and working with engineered antibodies from the blood of Ebola survivors, Kartik Chandran and his team are on their way to defeating the deadly virus—and developing a potential cure for all Ebola strains.

At the next Secret Science Club, Dr. Chandran takes on Ebola and other emerging viruses. He asks:

--How do viruses like Ebola take over healthy cells?

--How did Ebola make the jump from wild animal hosts to human populations?

--What molecular mechanisms and experimental therapies are scientists deploying to fight Ebola?

Kartik Chandran is a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Harold and Muriel Block Faculty Scholar in Virology. He has conducted groundbreaking research on the molecular warfare between cells and invading viruses, and works to harness that research to develop antiviral treatments, focusing on filoviruses, such as Ebola virus and Marburg virus, and hantaviruses, such as Sin Nombre virus and Hantaan virus. Dr. Chandran and his research have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Atlantic, and National Geographic, and on BBC news, MSNBC, and Through the Wormhole.

BEFORE & AFTER

--Imbibe our cocktail of the night, the Outbreak of Love (drink in the love—and pass it on!)

--Groove to infectious beats

--Stick around for the scintillating Q&A

This edition of Secret Science Club meets Monday, February 25, 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Subway: F or G to 4th Ave, R to 9th St.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+. No cover. Just bring your smart self.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.