LENOX, Mass. — The Lenox Library's 15th Annual Distinguished Lecture Series will continue on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022 at 4:00 p.m.

 

Lois Banta, Chair and Halvorsen Professor for Distinguished Teaching and Research of Biology at Williams College, will discuss "COVID-19 Today and Tomorrow."

 

Due to COVID directives, this event will take place via Zoom. Meeting details may be found on the Library's website at https://lenoxlib.org or the Library's Facebook page. The event is free and open to the public.

 

In her lecture, Professor Banta will talk about the current thinking on the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus; herd immunity; how boosters work; viral variants and why some of the variants can be more or less transmissible and/or cause fewer or more severe symptoms; and potential scenarios for the pandemic going forward.

 

Professor Banta specializes in Microbiology, Genomics, and Molecular/Cell Biology. Her research explores the ways in which plants protect themselves from diseases. Her work has been published in the Journal of Bacteriology and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science and has received major grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Fulbright Commission, and the Teagle Foundation. She teaches courses in microbiology; bioinformatics, genomics, and proteomics; cellular regulatory mechanisms; genetics; and environment, immunity, and infectious disease. She received her B.A. from the Johns Hopkins University and her Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology.

 

Now in its 15th season, the Distinguished Lecture Series is organized and hosted by Dr. Jeremy Yudkin. Dr. Yudkin is a resident of the Berkshires and professor of music at Boston University and Oxford University. Every summer at the Lenox Library he presents pre-concert lectures for the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood season.