Jan Gogarten is searching for the next deadly germ (he’s a wildlife disease ecologist)

Jan was born in Germany, but he grew up in the US: his parents moved after Chernobyl, because their lab Geiger counter showed high radiation levels despite being hundreds of miles from the reactor. His parents were scientists, but after high school, Jan wanted to forge his own path. He took random gigs - balcony welder, tree planter. During college, one of his professors suggested he try field research. Jan went to Panama to study electric river fish, and was hooked. "That was sort of my first experience of being a biologist for hire," he said.Now, Jan Gogarten is a wildlife disease ecologist at the Helmholtz Institute for One Health in Greifswald, Germany, and he works in the rainforest at Taï National Park in Ivory Coast and Kibale Forest National Park in Uganda, among other locations. He investigates viruses and bacteria that could be among the next pathogens to jump into humans and make us sick.This episode pairs well with last week's episode on Cédric Girard-Buttoz, who also studies in Taï National Park. Read Jan's research on environmental DNA (eDNA) here, and his work on how monitoring wildlife leads to infectious disease prevention here.Find him and his institutions on Bluesky @jangogarten.bsky.social‬, @helmholtzhzi.bsky.social‬, @helmholtz-hioh.bsky.social‬