Melissa Ward - Research Homepage
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About MeI am a PhD student, working with Professor Andrew Leigh Brown and Dr. Samantha Lycett in the Institute for Evolutionary Biology at the University of Edinburgh. I joined the group following an MSc in Quantitative Genetics and Genome Analysis, also at Edinburgh, where I specialised in Evolutionary Genetics. Prior to this, I did an undergraduate degree in Mathematics at the University of Oxford. This website is designed to give a brief overiew of the work I am involved in. Please contact me for if you would like more information. Research InterestsMy choice of PhD was motivated by a desire to conduct scientific research in an area relevant to public health, but I am also keen to engage with fundamental evolutionary questions. I am interested in the evolution of viruses, particluarly those such as influenza and HIV, which mutate so quickly that their evolution can be tracked over the course of an epidemic. Vast amounts of viral genetic sequence data are available for analysis and I am examining these using statistical and phylogenetic methods combined with high-performance computing. My influenza research has focused on global evolutionary relationships between avian influenza viruses and how their evolution is affected by the genetic background in which they find themselves. I am also using novel methods to estimate rates of reassortment, a process which can generate pandemic strains. Similar methods can be applied to viruses which undergo recombination and I have been using them to investigate the evolutionary history of the HIV epidemic in Africa. Additionally, I am involved in collaborative work which allows inferences to be made about epidemiological parameters using viral sequence data. PublicationsE. M. Volz, S. L. Kosakovsky Pond, M. J. Ward, A. J. Leigh Brown and S. D. W. Frost (2009). Phylodynamics of Infectious Disease Epidemics. Genetics 183(4): 1421-1430 S. J. Lycett, M. J. Ward, F. I. Lewis, A. F. Y. Poon, S. L. Kosakovsky Pond and A. J. Leigh Brown (2009). Detection of Mammalian Virulence Determinants in Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 Viruses: Multivariate Analysis of Published Data. J. Virol. 83(19): 9901-9910 CollaboratorsMy research on evolutionary interactions between segments in avian influenza was carried out in conjunction with Dr. Jon Bollback. The theoretical work in which I have been involved, linking viral epidemiology and evolution, is led by Dr. Erik Volz. We are now taking it forward computationally in conjunction with Professor Andrew Rambaut, Dr. Trevor Bedford and Dr. Danny Wilson. TeachingI have experience of teaching on a variety of courses for Honours and MSc students. Having started off with tutoring and demonstrating at the beginning of my PhD, I have now moved towards more independent teaching and recently gave my own course on Introductory Mathematics (roughly equivalent to Maths A-level) for Biology MSc and PhD students about to undertake Quantitative Genetics courses or research. I have also been involved in the supervision of MSc student 'mini-projects'. Taught courses:
FundingI am funded by the Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council (BBSRC) Contact InformationTel: +44-131-650-5462 E-mail: melissa.ward_at_ed.ac.uk | |||||
