figure 1DataNews

PAHO Zika numbers

Data here. Permanent Andersen Lab project link is here. Most epidemiological investigations of Zika virus during the current epidemic in the Americas requires temporal human case data. The only place to gather this information is is from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), an arm of the World Health Organization. They present Zika virus case numbers in two ways: spreadsheets of…
June 26, 2017
2017-Nature-celebrationPublications

Zika papers in Nature

In a series of papers in the journals Nature and Nature Protocols, we used Zika virus sequencing from patients and mosquitos to show how the virus has spread across South America and into Florida. This work was performed as a large (huge!) collaboration of national and international institutions, which was made possible because of open science and open data. (more…)
May 25, 2017
2017-Group-shotNews

Growing bigger

The laboratory is still growing steadily. Mark joined us in February coming from Columbia in New York, where he did a short postdoc after having completed his PhD in Belgium. Glenn will officially join us as a graduate student in June, after having worked on multiple projects with us for a while. He's been running the SRTI main lab for…
May 19, 2017
Cell abstractPublications

Ebola paper in Cell

In a recent study published in Cell together with colleagues from UMass Worcester and the Broad, we show how a single mutation that occurred during the 2013-2016 Ebola virus disease epidemic in West Africa increased the ability of the virus to infect human cells. The mutation occurred in the Ebola virus glycoprotein and is located in the receptor binding domain of…
November 22, 2016
Nature paperPublications

Review on Ebola evolution in Nature

The 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa was of unprecedented size and devastation, but also stands a landmark for infectious disease genomics. By sequencing virus genomes directly from patient samples, scientists are now able to investigate how viruses evolve, transmit between individuals, and spread across country borders during outbreaks, directly informing infection control. (more…)
October 12, 2016
DataNews

Zika sequences from Miami mosquitoes

Data here. Protocol here. Three pools of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes collected in Miami Beach on August 22nd and 23rd, 2016, were found to be infected with Zika virus. Through our collaborators, Scott Michael and Sharon Isern from Florida Gulf Coast University, we recently received samples of these mosquitoes for sequencing using our amplicon-based protocol for MiSeq. (more…)
September 10, 2016
DataNews

Zika sequence from local Florida transmission

Data here. Protocol here. In collaboration with Dr. Diogo Magnani in the Watkins Laboratory in the Dept. of Pathology at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, we recently received plasma and saliva from two people with Zika virus infections living in the Miami area. Using our amplicon-based approach previously used to sequence Zika virus from travel-related Zika virus cases in…
September 7, 2016
DataProtocols

Travel-related Zika cases in Florida

Figure 1. Coverage plots of the included samples. Data here. Protocol here. In a collaboration with Scott Michael and Sharon Isern from Florida Gulf Coast University and Florida Department of Health, we have recently received several travel-related cases detected across Florida. We have now managed to sequence Zika virus genomes from three of these case and the data and analyses can be accessed here. (more…)
August 30, 2016