Dr. Artem Babaian Biography

About Dr. Artem Babaian

Babaian’s research focuses on developing cutting-edge technologies to detect novel viruses at an unprecedented scale. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Babaian initiated a project (called Serratus) to identify the origins of SARS-CoV-2 through the re-analysis of all public RNA-sequencing data. To achieve this, he established the Serratus Consortium, an international team of leading bioinformaticians and virologists. Together, they searched 5.7 million sequencing libraries for a gene that is found in all RNA viruses (called RdRp); this search uncovered >130,000 novel RNA virus species, including nine novel Coronaviruses. Prior to this project, only 15,000 virus species had been discovered. This breakthrough expanded Earth’s known RNA virome by nearly an order of magnitude and was published in Nature (over 250 citations). Babaian’s work was highlighted by international media and garnered multiple honors, including the prestigious Gairdner Early Career Investigator Award.

Babaian has also contributed to our understanding of ribosomal RNA modifications in human cancer, discovering hidden ribosomal variability between individuals that could serve as a novel therapeutic target (Cell Reports, 61 citations).