Monkeypox – Bioinformatic Insights Into an Emerging Viral Pathogen
Friday, February 10th at 9:30 a.m.
Historically, Monkeypox was endemic to Africa, but spread to London in 2022. Thereafter, the virus spread to 111 countries, yielding 85,000 cases worldwide. The Monkeypox genome evolves roughly 6 times faster than that of its closest relatives. To pinpoint the origin and epidemiological consequences of this elevated mutation rate, we will: (1) infer a phylogeny for Monkeypox and its relatives; (2) estimate dates for divergence events; and (3) compare rates and patterns of protein evolution across this viral lineage. These results may shed light on the abnormal rate of protein evolution and recent proliferation of Monkeypox outside Africa.
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Robert Kuzoff, PhD, is an associate professor in the Departments of Computer Science and Biology at UW-Whitewater. He is also on the faculty of the Applied Biotechnology Masters Program through UW-Extended Campus and is the Director of the Bioinformatics and Data Science minors at UW-Whitewater. Dr. Kuzoff’s primary research interest is medical bioinformatics. Researchers in his lab explore medically significant variation in the genomes, transcriptomes, and proteomes of humans and their viral and bacterial pathogens. |
Thank you to Moments Hospice for the refreshments, the Friends of the Monona Senior Center, 98.7 WVMO The Voice of Monona and UW-Whitewater for their support of this program.
This event if FREE and open to the public!
Call 608-222-3415 if interested attending.