This New Jersey virus expert won on ‘Jeopardy!’ and her COVID expertise came in handy

Everyone knows that omicron is the name of a widespread COVID variant, but how many could identify the Greek letter that comes before omicron?

That puzzler was a breeze for new Jeopardy! champ Brianne Barker, who studies viruses for a living.

An associate professor of biology at Drew University in Madison, N.J., Barker broke into a broad smile on Wednesday’s episode of the game show when host Ken Jennings read the clue:

“COVID variant names skipped nu & this 14th Greek letter.”

Her correct response: “What is xi?”

With that response and many others, Barker beat returning champion Ed Coulson and challenger Colleen Birney, finishing with $11,700.

Her victory aired the same day the show announced that Jennings and Mayim Bialik signed deals to be permanent cohosts of the popular game show. Barker’s reign as champ was short-lived, however, as she lost in her second game, which aired Thursday.

The first episode was taped in May, but the show did not allow the scientist to publicize her big moment until this week. Earlier this week, she hinted to Drew University officials that her professional expertise might come in handy.

“There was one question that I will always remember in an I-can’t-believe-I-got-a-question-about-x kind of way,” she said.

Barker even wore virus-shaped earrings for the occasion, posting a closeup shot on Twitter.

Originally from Camden, N.Y., Barker studied the immune response to HIV as a biology undergraduate at Duke University.

She went on to earn a Ph.D. in immunology at Harvard University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2013, she joined the faculty at Drew, where she also directs the university’s undergraduate research program.

While COVID is not the focus of her research, she closely tracks the latest developments, in part because she is cohost of a weekly netcast called This Week in Virology, on the channel microbe.tv.

About that COVID clue on Jeopardy!:

When a new variant emerged in November 2021, the World Health Organization went with the 15th letter in the Greek alphabet, omicron. The agency said it skipped ahead because nu sounded too much like “new,” and xi is also a common last name in China.

On the Jeopardy! episode, Barker’s science knowledge came in handy on several other clues.

Among them: “Adult insects have 6 legs, all attached to this body section.”

Barker’s correct response? The thorax.

On the last clue of the show, called Final Jeopardy!, she failed to recognize that science was involved, however.

The clue:

“Milton wrote of this contemporary: ‘When by night the glass of’ (him) ‘observes imagined lands and regions in the moon.’”

Barker and Coulson both thought the “him” was a poet, while Birney left her square blank.

Correct response:

Who was Galileo?

No matter. Barker wagered less than Coulson, and ended up as champion.