The following description comes from the event organizer.

RNA viruses like SARS-CoV-2 and DNA viruses like Monkeypox are two completely different kinds of viruses and are not supposed to be able to exchange genes with each other. However, we have discovered hundreds of virus genomes that appear to have evolved exactly that way. Historically viruses have been separated into 6 or 7 different groups, depending on what kind of genetic material they use, DNA or RNA.

In this talk, extreme virologist Ken Stedman will describe research in the eXtreme Virus Group at Portland State University on virus discovery in extreme environments and virus evolution. in a completely new group of viruses that we discovered, the Cruciviruses or RNA-DNA hybrid viruses. These viruses appear to have evolved by an unprecedented recombination between RNA and DNA viruses and this recombination seems to be ongoing, constantly generating new viruses. Dr. Stedman will also do his best to answer your questions about viruses, including SARS-CoV-2.