Who is Dr. Michael Worobey?

By A.U.F.A.P (Nov. 3rd. 07) - Disclaimer: Dr. Michael Worobey's Research published recently in The Science Journal that claims one single Haitian brought the HIV/AIDS virus to the whole world, has stirred up a huge controversy in the web community. A.U.F.A.P. (Artists United For Aids Prevention) as an independent entity whose goal is to educate and bring awareness as a way to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, feels obligated to inform our readers about Dr. Michael Worobey. Posted below, is his biography and contact information. We know some of our readers are frustrated, but we urge you to be civilized if ultimately you make a personal decision to contact him personally.

Dr. Michael Worobey, Assistant Professor

Positions and Education

Assistant Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, 2003-present.

• Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Zoology/St. John’s College, University of Oxford. 2001-2003.
• D. Phil., Department of Zoology, University of Oxford. 2001.
• B. Sc. (Hons), Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University.
  
  Honors and Awards
  
• Junior Research Fellowship, St. John’s College, University of Oxford. 2001.
• NSERC postgraduate Scholarship. 1999.
• Rhodes Scholarship, 1997.

Research Interests

Michael Worobey uses an evolutionary approach to understand the origins, emergence and control of pathogens, in particular RNA viruses and retroviruses such as HIV and influenza virus. He integrates fieldwork; theory and methodology; molecular biology; and (especially) molecular evolutionary analysis of gene sequences in a phylogenetic framework.

Questions under investigation include: (1) When, where, and how have AIDS viruses crossed into humans? (2) How does recombination shape viral genetic diversity? (3) What can viral sequences sampled from different time-points reveal about the tempo and mode of evolution? (4) Could ancestral viral sequences be useful for developing vaccines against HIV or hepatitis C virus? (5) Can a computational forward-simulation approach be used to accurately forecast future viral evolution and genetic diversity in a probabilistic framework?

Current wet-lab projects in his Biosafety Level 3 facility involve recovery of damaged and/or ancient DNA from a variety of sources including paraffin-embedded human tissue specimens, blood smears, and museum specimens. The two main efforts are (1) reconstructing the emergence of HIV-1 group M in central Africa and North America using “fossil” HIV-1 sequences, and (2) investigating the evolution of AIDS-related viruses in wild-living African primates using non-invasively-collected samples.

Contact Info

Dr. Worobey, Michael
Assistant Professor
Office: BSW 324 626-3456
Lab: BSW 401 621-4881
worobey@email.arizona.edu
Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Oxford University, 2001