What if scientists could ward off the devastating effects of the next pandemic by using a “plug and play” technique to make a new vaccine? And what if that technique was paired with on-the-ground strategies for how to rapidly deploy vaccines around the world? That’s exactly the kind of future Eva Harris is trying to create. A professor of infectious diseases and vaccinology at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, Harris has spent decades studying mosquito-borne diseases in her lab at Berkeley and on the ground around the world, especially in Nicaragua. These diseases pose an increasing threat as warming climates help the mosquitoes that carry them spread. She’s also extensively studied influenza and COVID-19, including how the infamous “spike” protein affected illness severity. Last year, she was named a co-lead on a major federally funded project aimed at preventing the next pandemic. Called PROVIDENT, the project links 13 teams around the world to discover and analyze how viru...