Welcome to the Andersen Laboratory
At the Andersen Lab at Scripps Research we try to understand questions such as: how do viruses emerge, spread, evolve, and go from causing small-scale outbreaks to large-scale epidemics? How can we diagnose them better and discover novel ones? How do they develop resistance to countermeasures and what molecular and immunological factors govern the underlying mechanisms? Critically, by addressing these questions, can we develop new and effective vaccines and medicines, while informing outbreak responses? The research in our laboratory is aimed at tackling these questions using an integrated approach of computation, experimentation, genomics, and large-scale data analysis. We also more broadly employ quantitative approaches across scientific disciplines, ranging from microbiology to human immunology and genetics.
The Andersen Laboratory was established at Scripps Research in the summer of 2015 in beautiful La Jolla, California. We are strong proponents of open data and open science, and we are big believers in collaborating across scientific disciplines. To this end, we are actively engaged in several of our research initiatives, including the Global Health Initiative at Scripps Research, the Center for Viral Systems Biology, the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Consortium, the West African Research Network for Infectious Diseases, and the WestNile 4K Project.
Ready to learn more about the lab? Check out the people working here, our research, publications, and data.
Latest Lab Tweet
COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 Resources
To gain insights into the emergence, spread, transmission, and evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are working with a large number of public health agencies, hospitals, biotechs, and academic partners. With funding from the CDC and NIH, we are sequencing hundreds of samples a week and all the data are made publicly available.
In response to the emergence of new variants of SARS-CoV-2, we have made several visualization tools to make the genomic data more useful to the public, scientists, and outbreak responders.
People
Our Initiatives
Main Partners
News
WARN-ID Genomic Epidemiology Training Lays Groundwork for Future Research
WARN-ID recently concluded a six-week genomic epidemiology training of 44 trainees across seven countries. The training was composed of three modules aimed at meeting the immediate need for SARS-CoV-2 sequencing, while also providing a vital foundation in genomics and bioinformatics for future development. 26 pre-recorded lecture videos, didactic sessions, office hours, supplemental materials, and ongoing support through a dedicated Slack…
Lassa virus ecology study out in Nature Comms
New analysis by scientists at Scripps Research and University of Brussels finds that climate change and other factors could soon make deadly Lassa fever a much bigger public health problem in Africa. In the study, which appeared on September 27, 2022, in Nature Communications, scientists analyzed decades of environmental data associated with Lassa virus outbreaks, revealing temperature, rainfall and the presence…
SARS-CoV-2 studies from the Middle East out in Nature Comms
Understanding the global transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is critical for rapidly containing and handling the virus, especially as new variants and mutations of concern emerge. Certain regions in the world, including the Middle East and Northern Africa region, have been notoriously understudied and under-sampled. For the first time, Scripps Research scientists and collaborators unveil how the virus spreads in this region…