Xiaohongshu
- Hosted by Genetics Society
👩🔬 Speaker: Dr Marina Escalera-Zamudio
📅 Date: 12 October 2026
⏰ Time: 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM
📍 Location: C3.15, IOE - Bedford Way (20)
📑 Paper: Parallel evolution in the emergence of highly pathogenic avian influenza A viruses
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19364-x
Why do some avian influenza lineages repeatedly evolve into highly pathogenic forms while others do not? This paper uses viral genomes, phylogenetics, statistical modelling and protein-structure evidence to identify mutations repeatedly associated with the independent emergence of highly pathogenic influenza lineages.
We’ll be joined by Dr Marina Escalera-Zamudio, a UCL epidemiologist whose research uses genomic data and evolutionary modelling to understand and anticipate viral variation.
The session will ask how confidently we can reconstruct evolutionary events from genomic data: does repeated mutation imply adaptation, how do we separate association from mechanism, and could evolutionary genomics ever help us predict which viral lineages are most likely to become dangerous?
Themes: viral genomics · parallel evolution · phylogenetics · predicting pathogen emergence