While at UConn, graduate Tyler Gavitt (classes of 2017, 2019, and 2021, CLAS, CAHNR) found opportunities to conduct research on pneumonia and coronavirus, experiences that prepared him for cutting-edge work in vaccine research and development.

Describe your current position. What are the special aspects of your job?

I am currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI). My research focuses on the development and design of next-generation coronavirus vaccines. I work as part of a multidisciplinary team with members from around the world, tackling some of the biggest questions about coronavirus vaccines and coronaviruses as pathogens. The DHVI is one of the largest academic vaccine research units in the world and it is great to be able to work as part of such a large, collaborative group on problems that a single lab could not tackle alone.

What was your major at UConn? How did it prepare you for your current job?

My undergraduate major at UConn was molecular and cellular biology. My master’s degree was pathobiology. I think both of those helped me discover a love of science and the scientific method and made me want to ask questions. My undergraduate degree allowed me to take a really wide range of courses, and one of them, Emerging Infectious Diseases in Pathobiology, led me to start doing research. This program really allowed me to deepen my interest in infectious diseases and explore a lot of courses that I didn’t have access to as an undergraduate. Alongside that, pathobiology does a lot of translational research, and I liked that I always felt like there was a path that the things I was working on in the lab could one day find their way into a clinic where they could actually have a tangible benefit for human health.

My lab was studying pneumonia vaccines and ways to improve them so they work more reliably in more people. When the U.S. shut down in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to apply some of that expertise to testing different methods of delivering vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. I really enjoyed that work because I felt like I could contribute something to solving this monumental problem we were all facing. I really credit that work for sparking my interest in coronaviruses, and when it came time to look for postdocs, I knew I wanted to continue that line of research wherever I went next. It just took off from there, and my current job allows me to use that love of science and curiosity to answer big scientific questions.

What does a typical day look like for you?

The beauty of my job is that no day is really “typical.” I usually get to the lab around 8:30 a.m., have a cup of coffee, and then start experiments. Most of my day is usually spent commuting between lab and meetings, and I usually finish work between 5 and 6 p.m. The plans for experiments change based on the results of other studies or meetings, or their topics change as new data becomes available. Therefore, nothing is too static and things don’t get boring. This kind of changing schedule keeps things fresh and interesting.

What are the biggest challenges in your field? How do you deal with them?

I think there are some challenges in the field of vaccine development. One of the biggest challenges right now with coronavirus is that we just can’t predict the future. There’s no way to predict what the next big mutation will be or which animal-specific coronavirus is most likely to jump to humans next. But we can address this problem by studying what we have access to now and by working with people who specialize in some of these problem areas. There have been some really exciting advances recently in understanding why certain mutations in SARS-CoV-2 seem to keep cropping up, and that’s helping us understand the virus and the changes it goes through better than we have before.

I think the other big issue in this space right now is communication and public trust. Things have changed very quickly during the pandemic, and people understandably had a lot of questions about vaccines, the virus, and how to protect themselves and their loved ones. I think as scientists we have been reminded of the importance of having open discussions with the general public, and going forward we really need to engage in that dialogue, get people asking questions, and give them the answers they need. We need to restore public trust in science, and I think the best way to do that is through clear communication and open discussion with the public.

2024 is the 10th.^th Health Anniversary at CAHNR. What impact does your work have on human health?

2020 has been a frightening reminder of how vulnerable we all are to new pathogens. In the last 25 years alone, there have been three separate outbreaks of new coronaviruses, and we expect there will be more outbreaks of new coronaviruses in the future due to climate change and migration. The vaccines we are working on aim to address this possibility by extending protection beyond the 2019 SARS-CoV-2 virus to include protection against even more diverse coronaviruses of other types. The hope is that if there is another outbreak in the future, these next-generation vaccines may allow us to respond much more quickly than we did with SARS-CoV-2.

What advice would you give to current UConn CAHNR students?

I would really encourage them to take advantage of their resources. CAHNR has excellent faculty and excellent graduate students, and CAHNR’s generally smaller class sizes make these resources much more accessible to you than at other schools. I have always found that the faculty have been willing to help me, and my TAs have always been willing to answer my questions or help me during office hours.

What is your fondest memory of your time at UConn?

The 2014 Men’s Basketball Championship game, broadcast from Gampel Pavilion. About 5,000 students packed the arena and watched the game on giant projection screens. I was there with some of my best friends and the whole building was shaking with cheers. When UConn won the game, everyone rushed outside and thousands of celebrating students flooded Fairfield Way.

What is your favorite flavor at UConn Dairy Bar?

It has to be their chocolate chip cookie dough. It’s my favorite ice cream flavor, but Dairy Bar does it better than any other.