CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Alex Dornburg’s love for science and animals goes pretty far back. 

What You Need To Know

Before Alex Dornburg came to UNC Charlotte he was working at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences as a fish curator

Dornburg and other scientists at Yale began working on this study a year ago

From their study Dornburg says the typical time for re-infection for those who are unvaccinated is around 16 months

“My mom found a drawing I did in elementary school that said I wanted to be a marine biologist, and fast forward I’m a marine biologist by trade,” he said. 

Before Dornburg came to work at UNC Charlotte’s Bioinformatics Department two years ago, he was working as a fish curator for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. 

“The marine ecosystem doesn’t have a voice so getting to go out and actually being immersed in that environment and understanding that environment and how we can become better stewards of our marine environment is personally a very profound mission,” he said. 

COVID-19 halted Dornburg’s research with marine life, but allowed him to use his knowledge to begin working on a new study. 

“This was actually prompted by a quote somebody had where they said we know nothing about the durability of immunity, and it’s true,” he said. “At the time the estimates were really not satisfactory.”

For the next year Dornburg began working with other scientists at Yale to answer a question many had been asking: How long does it take for someone to get COVID-19 again?

“On average the typical time for reinfection is about 16 months,” he said. 

Dornburg says this all can range from person to person, and this data only reflects those who are unvaccinated, but it's helpful in getting us to rethink about immunity and this virus. 

“If we keep going through time, it may not be you that’s going to get reinfected, but somebody by this time likely will, so it’s a way for us to start thinking about the risk of reinfection through time versus just thinking immunity, not immunity,” he said. 

Studying fish is taking a backseat for now, but those skills are helping him provide more answers about how to move forward through this pandemic.

Dornburg’s study was recently published in the Lancet Microbe and is the first in the United States to provide this much-detailed information about immunity and reinfection. 

Dornburg says they are currently working on a new study that will involve those who are vaccinated.